Infants under the age of two years go through several vaccines to protect them from dreaded diseases. The vaccines contain weakened organisms that assist in building antibodies hence great protection against infections. It is true that babies can get part of the disease protections directly from their mothers but this only happens until they are 6 months old after which they are completely defendant on immunization.
It is at this very young age that they are more exposed to life threatening diseases and infections, the more reason that vaccination becomes an essential for their protection. Even as important as it is, vaccination is never a walk in the park, it’s a painful escaped dreaded by every mother. The mention of vaccination is the beginning of a mothers’ terror, parents worry more about the fever that comes after it than they do about how the episode will unfold.
The introduction of vaccination to the modern society has essentially reduced the multiple childhood diseases and deaths but even at that vaccination is still linked to a number of risks and side effects. So much that parents have seen the need to put in precaution and soothing measures in place for the before and after vaccination moments.
Precaution Measures before Vaccinations
Information is power, read every vaccination material at your disposal, list down what you don’t understand and ran them by your doctor before the D-day and as for what you grasps perfectly make sure you follow the instructions to the latter.
Request for the vaccine assessment tool from your doctor, it contains the list of all the vaccines that your child needs. Keep it safe and check them off one after another. This will help you keep tabs.
Review every vaccines information statement granted for a better understanding of the benefits and risks involved.
Keep the immunization record safe for the next appointment, make sure it’s up to date and allow your doctor review it before attending to the child; it will help jog his memory.
Pack any form of destruction for the child; it can be a toy or book, basically anything that can offer comfort and destruction during immunization.
Children born via Cesarean section need extra care to save their gut flora from compromising. Remind your doctor of your birth option even if he is aware.
Research shows that sugar water helps reduce the vaccination pain. Give your baby a little mixture of warm water and sugar before vaccines are administered. Alternatively dip the pacifier into any sugary liquid and let the baby suck it during injection.
There are numerous pain killers like Tylenol (acetaminophen) that can be given to a child shortly before vaccination to lessen the pain and prevent the after fever. If you chose to take this direction ask your doctor for a suitable prescription, do not self-medicate lest you ruin the effectiveness of the vaccine.
During Vaccination
Hold your baby close to you for warmth and comfort, do this in a perfect manner that leaves the arm and thigh in a good posture for the injection.
Study reveals that babies who are breastfed through vaccination often cry less. Vaccination should be quick and stress free, breastfeeding your baby through it may help the baby stay calm hence a quick and less chaotic vaccination.
As you strive to comfort the baby, also offer destruction for fast administration. Bring along toys and captivating books or play cartoons from your phone to capture the baby’s attention.
Stay calm all through the vaccination preparation to the administration, children can easily read a mother’s body language and whatever you feel reflects on them instantly. The baby will either be calm or distressed during vaccination depending on your body language.
Play and make soothing eye contacts with the child for a comforting assurance.
After Vaccination
It is normal for children to experience mild aftermath reactions of the vaccinations. It could either be fever or rashes not to talk about the obvious pain. Normal as it may be to you, the child deserves a little extra care from you to ease the side effects:
Learn about the side effect from the immunization sheet provided during the visit, understanding what you are up against will help you know how to tackle it.
The injected area will be swollen red after a while, use a soft, clean, damp cloth to carefully pat the swollen area.
Give the child a cool sponge bath to help reduce the fever. Alternatively, request for a non-aspirin pain reliever from your doctor, this should only be taken on prescription and not on self-medication lest you make the vaccine redundant.
The child may be reluctant towards food after the injection but try offer more liquids.
Pay more attention to everything the child does, from feeding to playing and call the doctor immediately you observe something questionable.
The Don’ts of Vaccination
Do not take your baby for vaccination when sick, no vaccination should be administered when the immune system is low. Alert your doctor about the state of your baby’s health and request for a reschedule.
Do not self-medicate the child before vaccination with an intention of helping lessen the pain. The pain killer may interfere with the strength of the vaccine.
Stay away from any vaccination that backfired previously, maybe it elicited adverse reaction or hurt the child in any way.
Do not shake you baby after vaccination with an intention of calming him/her down. You may end up making the baby drowsy.
Vaccines contain a little amount of the causative pathogen, but small enough not to cause any harm to the child. Whenever the pathogens are introduced to the body, they trigger the antibody forming defense mechanisms that help fight diseases. This grants the body a strong defense against the actual pathogen, now that is how much effective vaccination is. It is neither meant for the rich nor poor but for every newborn baby despite the race. It focuses a lot on children because they are more susceptible to diseases. Every vaccine preventing disease or condition can be easily avoided by a religious routine of proper vaccination, why would you risk your child’s life when there is a solution. Pain is inevitable but can be managed.
What are you doing before, during and after vaccination? Share with all of us