How to make it easier for your child to handle vaccination?

Vaccinating your child is the best thing that you can do for them. It teaches their immune system to fend off various life threatening infections. Vaccines protect your child against life threatening diseases like diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, haemophilus influenza, rotavirus, hepatitis B, measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, pneumococcal and meningococcal diseases. The vaccination schedule begins from 0 to about 5 years of life. Avoid vaccinating your child when he or she is unwell or is running fever.

 All vaccines are known to be safe and there is generally never a reason not to get your child vaccinated. There is another school of thought amongst various critics of vaccinations that they cause cerebral palsy in children, learning disabilities and autism but there is no scientific evidence to prove these claims. They claim that the adjuvant used in the vaccine cocktail is known to cause these diseases in children. But I personally feel there is more benefit than risk in giving your child the vaccine.

Initially when I used to take my son for vaccination , he was too small to realize what was happening and would ball his head off as soon the needle would break his skin for the medication to enter and as he grew to an age to understand what a vaccination was, he was petrified to enter the doctor’s clinic. As he grew to the age of 4, he had a clear understanding what a vaccine was? I would tell him that the doctor was putting soldiers in his body so that he doesn’t fall sick. He was so brave that he would lie on the doctor’s examination bed and tell the doctor to give him the vaccine and he didn’t shed even a tear. I feel communicating with children and explaining to them things logically really helps. We underestimate them a lot of times but they can really surprise you if you give them a chance.

Diseases amongst infants and toddlers can be life threatening. Mumps can cause permanent deafness, polio can cause paralysis, and measles can cause brain damage. There is no treatment and cure for these diseases.

Here are some tips to reduce the discomfort your child can have:

·        Use calpol to reduce the pain and fussiness in a child post the vaccination.

·        You can do ice compression on the place where the vaccine has been administered.

·        Distract the child during the vaccination like singing a song, showing them a cartoon on your phone, cuddle your child, and ask them questions.

·        You can ask the doctor to put a topical anesthetic to ease the pain before the vaccination.

·        Tell your child that vaccines make us strong and how it will hurt just a little but not for long.

·        Give them plenty of fluids to drink.

Always keep your child’s vaccination record up to date so that you can keep track of what vaccinations have been done and what are left? The only side effect of vaccination is swelling, pain, redness at the site of the injection, feeling tired or getting a head ache and in some rare instances fever. Generally your child should not have a strong reaction to the vaccine but do consult your doctor in case you feel your child is in great discomfort.

So you won’t get a vaccination for your child from the fear that they might get “autism”? ……tell me how a dead child is better than an autistic one. - anon