PARENTING HEALTH & WELLNESS
Our Children | Spring 2022
Panicked by the poke How to talk to your kids about their needle phobia
By Ameeta Vohra
W
ith in-person learning back this winter and vaccination efforts ramping up, children continue to navigate an uncertain world with COVID-19. Children face heightened anxiety if they have trypanophobia. IWK pediatric-health psychologist Dr. Elizabeth McLaughlin says that this is a common syndrome as two-thirds of children fear needles. The level of fear ranges from mild to very severe. McLaughlin says the higher the fear is, the most likely it will interfere with a child’s ability to get a needle. “Most children report that they’re afraid of the discomfort that comes with having a needle,” she says. “Others have memories of experiences with needles in the past that make them afraid. For other children, just like with other common fears, like a fear of spiders, or snakes, they don’t know where the fear comes from. It’s just something they can always remember.” While children want to get the needle and understand the importance of getting medication or in many cases these days, a vaccine, the procedure often causes panic. “We know that the fear of needles has always been a factor in some people avoiding needles or vaccine hesitancy,” she says. “What I’ve noticed with COVID-19 is we’ve seen a large number of people working hard to overcome their fear to get the vaccine.” For parents, McLaughlin says the signs are easy to tell if their child exhibits fear of needles. “As soon as the idea of a needle is mentioned, the child may say that they’re afraid, or that they won’t do it, or just display emotions such as fear or anger,” she says. “Some other children try to avoid going to places where there might be a chance of getting a needle, like their family doctor’s office or a dentist. In other cases, the strong rush of feelings comes as a complete surprise at the last minute to both the child and the caregiver.” After a lot of research on trypanophobia, many coping strategies have emerged which have proven effective for children. Parents play a crucial role in helping their children overcome those fears. It starts with demonstrating to their child the confidence and resilience to do things even when they are scared of the situation.
“Most children have overcome other fears in their life, like going to school, the first day of primary or going to sleepover for the first time,” she says. “It can be really helpful to remind them of that and to talk together about what tools they use to get through those situations.” If a child becomes anxious when talk begins about needles, parents will avoid having the discussion. However, McLaughlin says there are benefits to having that talk. “Talking to them (children) in advance gives us an opportunity to talk about some coping strategies, answer their questions, honestly and create a plan, whether they want you to be in the room with them, or what they want to bring with the appointment, or to talk about why the needles important,” she says. “Even if their anxiety goes up when you have this conversation, it usually goes back down again soon, and everyone will feel more prepared, and in fact, experiencing the epidemic of anxiety also shows everyone that the child can cope with these feelings.” To ease the anxiety children have from the pain and discomfort of having a needle poked in their skin, pharmacies and drugstores offer topical anesthetic cream to numb the area that parents can purchase without a prescription. “Once the cream has been on for the recommended amount of time, I usually like to have the child poke the area with something like a toothpick or a pen cap to prove to themselves that numbs the skin, and this can give them a lot of confidence,” she says. Parents can also create a distraction plan during their child’s needle time. McLaughlin says having it could be as simple as talking about something fun or looking at something on the phone. However, a small number of children want to watch the needle procedure, so it can be a challenge to distract them. One coping mechanism for that is practicing deep breathing in advance as it calms the body. Many apps are available to help children breathe for relaxation. There is also the option of doing a dry practice run with your child. “For some families, you can even practice at home with an empty syringe that you might have on hand for giving liquid medication and alcohol wipes and a toothpick,” she says. “If you decide to do that, go slowly in small steps and keep it positive.” PHOTO: NANZEEBA IBNAT
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