Tips before getting vaccinated

• Feed your baby during immunization. Being held close to you and sucking helps to reduce their pain.
• If you cannot feed them, try holding your baby skin-to-skin.
• Follow your baby’s lead and continue holding and feeding after immunization if your baby wants to.

Young children

• Consider reading stories about what happens when you visit the doctor.
• Describe how the injection will feel (e.g., like a pinch) just before the visit; prepare older children the day before.
• Tell your child what they can do to ease the discomfort (e.g., sit still, breathe deeply, and relax the arm).
• Talk with your child about their feelings and let them ask questions.
• Be a role model for your child by staying calm and talking positively.
• Distract your child with a favourite toy, blanket, book, music, singing, or telling a joke or a story.
• Tell your child to take a deep breath and to blow it out slowly.
• Hold your child securely in a comforting hug, sitting upright on your lap, facing forward, or facing you, with the arm exposed. Older children can sit alone if they wish.

Teens

• Before the day of the injection, tell your teen what to expect. This is a good time to help them understand that immunizations can keep them from getting sick.
• Ask your teen how they are feeling. If your teen is anxious or worried, ask them how they have coped with getting injections in the past.
• Allow your teen to ask questions, both to you and to their health-care provider.
• Encourage your teen to use distractions such as talking or playing games on a mobile device.
• Re-use strategies that your teen says have worked in the past.