Good Morning!! I have also had challenging appointments; here is what works for us.
1) Echos: We were fortunate when our son was a toddler to have a brilliant technician. The very first time in the hospital, I was told they may have to sedate our son because he was so terrified and was sobbing, wriggling etc... BUT the tech suggested that I lay down on the exam table and he lay on top of me while I held his hand. And she was able to get the echo done this way!
Over subsequent visits, I would keep lying down on the table for the echos and he would lie on top of me. This helped him calm down immensely during the echo. The fear before the appointments started lessening. Now, he's six and he's been able to get the echo done by himself for awhile. There is hope- It can get so much better!! (They also have a TV in the room for distraction, but an IPad or smart phone might work too.)
2) EKGs: I second Margaret's idea to let the child take off his own stickers. For some kids having the control may help, especially if they have sensitive skin and prefer the stickers to come off more quickly or slowly then the nurse may do it.
Another idea is to see if the doctor's office will let mom or dad do a mock EKG. (I haven't had to do this, but it's a thought.) You could model whatever you think your child needs to hear. E.g.: "Hmmm...these are sticky. I don't like them. Oh, I guess it's ok. I'm going to hold X's hand and see if I feel better." Perhaps it might be worth a call to the nurse ahead of the appointment to see if he/she would be willing to do this.
3) General: I dislike the idea of bribing the kids, but in the end, you have to do what you have to do to get through the appts. Things can always change in the future.
I take our son out to lunch afterward. (If you rarely eat out, this can be a big treat.) I also stop at Target, Walmart etc..and let our son pick out a toy. (Since he has a brother, we'd pick something up for his sibling as well. This reduced a lot of the "It's not fair!" stress.) We make a whole day of it and now our son is in school, missing school to have lunch out, get a toy and have one-on-one time with mom is not a bad sell:)
Please let me know if you have follow-up questions.
Julia
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Julia Painton
McLean VA
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-21-2017 10:08
From: Andrea Baer
Subject: Appointment Ideas
We struggle with appointments as well. Some tricks I have tried are food bribes (I know...not great) for holding still during the echo. I always promise to take him to eat somewhere after for french fries, his favorite. We also take the Ipad and I have him take selfies and watch himself (He loves this). It's kind of hard for me because I have to hold the Ipad above his head and take photos haha. But, it helps. I also let him watch videos while he's laying there. It's not perfect and we still struggle though.
We use the freeze dance for the EKG. Once he's hooked up we do freeze dance with music from my phone and then we try to get him to stay "frozen" for long enough for it to register a good read. This has worked rather well for us. We also let him take off the lead line stickers. He used to freak out. Now....We let him take them off. Sometimes he takes them off right away and sometimes they stay till later, but in my opinion, I don't care. He's not crying and getting upset in the ofice so I'm good with him leaving them.
I love hearing other ideas. Our annual visit is coming up and I'm hoping it goes well.
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Andrea Baer
Grapeville PA
(724) 396-7820
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