The first thing you should do, before your child is due for a shot, is speak to your doctor. Find out whether a dose of paracetamol before or after the shot is okay, and if so how much, and how long before or after.
Try to avoid having your child’s injections scheduled for a day when you have somewhere else to be. That’s because there may be a slight reaction, and in some very rare cases an allergic reaction, to the injection, and you want to be close to medical care. Bear in mind that some injections, like the MMR vaccinations, can have an effect only seven to ten days after your child receives them, so avoid planning any travelling or holidays where you will be away from medical care for that time period.
There are also topical anaesthetic creams, that you can apply to the area where the injection will be administered, an hour or so before your child is due to have his or her injections. This will deaden the area, and make the pain of the injection virtually unnoticeable. Speak to your doctor to find out which products are best suited to your child.
In some cases, there are also mist versions of anaesthetics that can be administered without any injection at all. They’re not available for every vaccine, but they are a good option if you’d like to avoid the pain of injections. Another option is to get your child to have combination vaccines, which offer more than one vaccination in a single shot, thereby reducing the number of injections your child needs to get.
