All May's Pieces

Please do what we do in the NICU, give Z tylenol PRIOR to getting her vaccines (about an hour) and then ever 6 hours for 24 hours. You will have a MUCH happier baby. Call your pediatrician to get her reccomended dose.
Trust me!

My daughter didn't suffer too much with her vaccinations. My doctor advised a breastfeed immediately they were done to calm her down, and other than being a bit sleepier than normal for 24 hours, she was fine.

I enthusiastically second Jen's recommendation for Tylenol. I used to give it to my children after the vaccination when they started a fever, but at 6 months, my pediatrician gave the exact same advice as Jen. It worked wonders for both of my children, even when they got MMR, DTP, and oral polio vaccines all at once.

No experience with babies and vaccinations here...my question is if there is a reason why May is knit in pieces, and not in the round? Cause it is a raglan, right?
Best wishes to baby Z!

I am joining the Tylenol crowd. Definitely give her a dose of tylenol before her shots.

I am looking forward to seeing the completed May.
Have a great day and hope you are able to accomplish all you want to get done.

Ouch! I always turned my head and didn't watch. They didn't tell me about the Tylenol-in-advance until about the third round of shots, after the child had had a reaction to the polio shot, IIRC. Three straight hours of panicky crying. We were all exhausted after that one.

I don't know that its any easier when they get big enough to know a shot is coming.

May looks great! I second the nursing suggestion too. Good luck with the shots -- I can definitely understand your feelings. It's hard to watch them hurt, even if it is good for them.

One thing I always did, not sure if it helped E or me more, but I always told her it would hurt a little (even when she was this little). I still remember being told it wouldn't and being so upset by the fact that it did. It wasn't the hurt that upset me, but the being told it wouldn't. Good luck!

When my K. was little I wore her a lot. My New Native sling was my constant companion (and as K. got older we graduated to using an EllaRoo, in addition to keeping the New Native on hand for quick carries). K. found great comfort in being close and it freed my hands up to do other little household chores. Many people aren't into babywearing, but I swear K. came to understand that I would always try my hardest to meet her needs. Wearing her DID NOT turn her into a needy, must be held all the time type of baby.

K. is now a very independent 1½ year old spitfire. I wouldn't change a thing about the babywearing.

Each baby is different, though. Just wanted to offer up what worked for us to relieve the fussy grumps.

Good luck with the shots.

J.

My 2 cents... I always nursed while my little one was getting his shots. He never had much reaction and was never scared about going to the doctor!

Well there's the norm of pre-medicating her with tylenol, but the thing that helpsd my girls so much was nursing them through the shots. I never would've thought of it, but my Pediatrician suggested it. It's was an amazing thing, no screaming and she didn't tense as much so there wasn't a ton of bruising.

:)

I have found that my little guy always sleeps much more for the next 1-2 days. He's always been good at calming down once the shock of being poked is over, and I've only noticed additional side effects with the chicken pox vaccine. Feeding immediately after is a great idea. Best of luck!

Please let us know how it is all going. Are you going to give her tynol before? Tara has her first round next week. I have developed a low tolerance to needles near my children. I cried when they did the TB last week to her. I then had her being Miss Fussy two days later, feeding every 2 hours during the day.
May starts to look great, I wear mine a lot now that it is cooler.

My SIL told her son once that if he said a certain little prayer while getting his shot, the pain would be over before he finished the prayer. Leave it to a kid... As the nurse stuck him he let out an emphatic "Jesus" but uttered no more of the prayer. According to him it didn't hurt after the needle stick so no more of the prayer was needed......It somehow didn't sound that way to the bystanders,if you catch my drift! LOLOLOLOLOL

I too found that my little ones were sleepy/drowsy after shots. I didn't medicate, and they were bottle fed, I just let them sleep wherever they wanted to (usually on me or dad the first evening) then they were fine. Hard to watch though -- even when my 14-yr old got her 5 shots for going to HS, I had a twinge... she was fine too. ***grin***

One more vote for Tylenol before the shots. It worked wonders for my kids. The couple of times I forgot were noticeably worse.

Perhaps I'm prone to overpreparing, but I always liked to BOTH shoot 'em up with Tylenol before AND nurse during the shots.

And my second was a belly-sleeper, too. I hear the back-to-sleep thing, but in the absence of other risk factors, I opted for sleep, baby, sleep. Every chance we got.

I am going along with the Tylenol before the shots - I did it with my daughters on 3 different pediatrician's advice. Otherwise, they were feverish and very unhappy. I didn't nurse during, as no one ever suggested it, but it sounds like a good idea - I would think that Z would be calmer and happier if you did. Good luck!

As an immunologist (did I spell that right?), I'd like to hear more of your side about vaccines. I'm on a 'slightly crunchy' parenting yahoo group, and many are against vaxes, or at least they follow a delayed schedule. One woman says they don't prevent anything and are not the reason there's no more polio or small pox or whatever. I do agree it's quite alot to be sticking into their bodies (like, the preservatives and stuff used to make the vaccines--fetal cells?), but if it weren't for vaccines, where did polio go? And how do you know if your kid will be one who reacts to mercury before you ever give a shot? I do agree that the possible negative consequences of vaxes never get mentioned by doctors (like, there's already been deaths attributed to the HPV vaccine), but it's such a touchy subject. So, I'm not looking for a debate, or a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' debate, etc, I'm just curious on your take seeing as you would obviously know what you're talking about :)

Something else for when the tylenol wears off is an ice pack for the shot site. I took a store-bought "boo-boo" buddy ice pack (they last longer and are less messy, but a regular ice pack works too), and I kept it on my son's leg with an adult sock (store-bought) that I cut the foot off of.

My kids were sleepy after vaccines, too, rather than fussy. For me, one of the hardest "mom jobs" was to hold them while they get the shots, but where better to be than in mom's arms? Thankfully when they are that little they don't go in to the doctor worrying if they are going to get a shot or not. I think the preschool and kindergarten physicals are the hardest, since they know what is coming, but the suckers do help, then. :) Looking forward to seeing May, too.

I with the Tylenol crowd. I would also gently move the arm or leg that had the shots every so often within the first 24 hours so it wouldn't stiffen up and hurt as much. I would also turn their heads and sing "Isty Bitsy Spider" to them while they were getting the shots. I wish you the best.

I never noticed any problems with our two after innoculations. Keep calm yourself, cos Z'll pick up on your nervousness for sure, & carry on as normal.

All the best.

such a beautiful sweet little one you have - and there is just nothing worse for a Mom than having a baby not feel weel. go for the tylenol - and we all promise that it gets easier as the grow. promise. for now the remedy is lots of hugs in the rocking chair.

I know the feeling on all fronts. Mine does not nap much but she has finished her jabs. She will nap more as she gets more active. But just a little more.