Vaccinations: When you have two children

Vaccinations with two kids

Today was Kaitlyn’s 18 month well-baby check up. I took Brayden along so he could get his flu shot. Now, the advice I have to give is really going to seem like a no-brainer, but I messed up today.

When it came time for the shot, I decided to ask Brayden if he wanted to get his shot first, or if he wanted Kaitlyn to get hers first. He chose Kaitlyn. Once he did, I had the thought that it might be better for him to get his first, but I ignored it.

Kaitlyn got on the table. I stood on one side holding her hands and Brayden stood on the other saying, “It’s okay Kaitlyn, don’t be scared, I am right behind you.” She got her shot and started to cry. Brayden immediately retreated to the corner and said he didn’t want a shot. I stood Kaitlyn up and the nurse let her choose a sucker. As soon as she saw the sucker, she was cured. She happily got down eating her sucker.

Brayden, however, was not convinced. He said he wanted a sucker. I replied he could have one as soon as he got his shot. He replied, “I don’t want a sucker.” I picked him up and put him on the table. I held his hands as one nurse held his legs. He cried and cried. Later as I told my husband about it over the phone, he started to shake. Poor guy! I understand his fear; I am very afraid of shots also.

So my advice when you have two children who need to get a vaccination is this. In most cases, it will be best to have the oldest child go first–that is if one is young enough to not really know what is going on. You know your children. You can guess which order would be best. I knew the reverse order would have been better, but I ignored that knowledge.

If you think there isn’t really a “better” order to go in, you can ask the nurse if she has any ideas based on experience. Perhaps you can do the vaccinations in separate rooms or take one child out while the first gets the vaccination.

I think for most children, vaccinations will happen at different times. They have different birthdays so vaccinations are on a different schedule–unless you have twins! But in the case of a flu vaccination, typically a lot of people will get them at the same time.

Last year, Brayden and I went together. I got my shot first and was very brave, which made him completely compliant with his vaccination. Since I am currently seeing an OBGYN for pregnancy, I will get my vaccination there this year. But that is an option for you if several people need to get a vaccination at the same time.

If you have any good tips for this situation, please share!

16 thoughts on “Vaccinations: When you have two children”

  1. It is so interesting that you posted this today because we just returned from my daughter’s 15 month well check where she received 3 shots..now she is more aware of what the purple gloves mean, and it was not a pleasant office visit!! Have you experienced any adverse reactions in your children from the immunizations thus far? She had her first MMR today and I am a little worried….thanks!

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  2. How horrible you poisoned those kids. No wonder your son freaked. You tramatized him w/ something so not rt. for growing bodies. You are pregnant too and getting a flu shot. WOW, that it is always great having mercury in the blood stream for a growing fetus.

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  3. Christie, for Brayden’s two month vacs, he seemed a little sick afterward. Kaitlyn was similar after her 4 month. Other than that, no problems.

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  4. Jon, I am not really interested in debating vaccinations vs. not vaccinating. You may not be aware of this, but not all vaccinations contain mercury and you can request to get those without.Personally, from the research I have done, I believe that to not vaccinate is more dangerous than to vaccinate. That is for each person to decide. I would appreciate any comments you may decide to make on this blog in the future remain civil. Otherwise, I will delete them.

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  5. Thank you for the advice!! First a question – your pediatrician’s office would give you the flu shot also? Did you have to tell them that before the actual appointment? We are going for my son’s 9 mo wellness and he doesn’t get vaccinations at that one, but I thought about getting his flu shot then.Christie – We did the optional vaccination schedule – which simply stretched out the vaccinations so they didn’t get as many chemicals in them at one time. We didn’t start this until his 6 mo wellness. However, I saw a huge difference in him between his 4 mo and his 6 mo. Basically, they gave him 2 shots at his normal checkup, and then I took him back a week later to get the other shots. He didn’t run a fever, wasn’t fussy, and had no adverse reactions. For his other shots, he did – which is what made me research that alternative.Valerie – don’t listen to Jon. That’s just ridiculous and I cannot believe the audacity of some people.

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  6. Thanks Bradysmom 🙂 My son’s pedi did do vaccinations for me, but it is also a family practice clinic, so I think they transferred my records over or something to do it. I didn’t care because it was far more convenient and my old OB had just moved across the country–I was without a doctor at the moment anyway. I think they had to do that for insurance purposes. I would call ahead and see if they can do your vaccination and if so, what needs to be done to do it. I am sure each office is different based on their own policy and insurance policy.

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  7. bradysmom, great idea! I will talk to her pediatrician about this for future vaccinations, thanks so much!! Valerie, keep up the online ministering, we all learn so much!! Thanks ladies!

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  8. I’m a pediatric nurse, and I agree that having the older child go first is usually the best idea. If you have two kid who BOTH know what’s going on, like a 4 and 6 year old, then in my experience its best to have one wait in the hall while the other gets the shot. There have also been situations where we decided two nurses should come in and give the kids shots at the exact same time. But like you said, you know your kids, an when I go into a room I always ask the mom who should go first.

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  9. Jon, you’re on the wrong board. As for bringing more than one child, I have no advice…only sympathy! I now have to bring 3 kids and when I have to bring all of them it is almost laughable how difficult it is!It gets older as they need fewer shots, but we have our flu shots coming up too…during my baby’s 6 month well check….ho boy!!!

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  10. Sorry to post this here, but I don’t really know where else to!! Advice about Halloween…I was extremely scared of things as a child – and am still very jumpy as an adult. I can never watch scary things or anything like that. It still scares me to this day. The reason I’m telling you some background is because I am very sensitive to scary images and what, I believe, they really do to us.So – seeing as how Halloween is coming up, I would really like to keep all of those scary images from my 8 month old. I can only imagine that as a baby, you are used to seeing happy things, and then all of a sudden you see something pretty scarry and have no idea what it is. I’m not going to take him trick-or-treating, but we will be there to answer the door. Even though I am so sensitive to this, I wasn’t even aware of this until we were walking through Michael’s Craft Store and there was a scarry skeleton (even I thought it was scarry) and my husband said ‘ Don’t let Brady see that, that could scare him’! Now, I know that I can’t possibly shield him from everything bad!!! But, considering the struggle I have always had with this, I really want to try not to let him see this type of stuff.Any advice from people that have older kids, how you handle them seeing/not seeing scarry things??

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  11. Just a quick note to let you know that I left you a comment/question under “dropping naps.” I’d really appreciate your input. Thanks!

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  12. Bradysmom,One thing I would realize is that long term, you can’t keep these things from him (I guess if you don’t take him shopping September-October and homeschool him you could until he moved out…).But I think it is entirely possible to keep scary things from his view at this age. I would try to keep him from being at the door when you answer it–odds are he will be in bed for most trick-or-treaters. Other than that, I am not much help there! I actually love Halloween. Of course, our Halloween decorations are all smiling pumpkins, ghosts, etc. I don’t do gorey or scarey looking. I guess in my area where we live we don’t have that. Everyone is like us in their decorating. We also dress up in things like Peter Pan, which also seems to be a common thing around here. I don’t remember seeing anything scarey around the neighborhood.

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  13. Thanks for the advice! That’s what I figured – that a) he would be in bed, and b) if I saw someone scary I just wouldn’t take him to the door.

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