Preparing for 2 month vaccinations

Mrs.Ram

DD has her 2 month appointment on Friday - does anyone in Bump-land recommend anything to prepare her for the vaccinations she'll be getting? I've heard varying things about giving her infant motrin/tylenol in advance so the side effects aren't as bad. What did you ladies do, and what can I expect after they are given? (For what it's worth, my understanding is that it's 2 shots with a combination of vaccines in them. Our practice does not do the extended vaccine schedule.)

crazyDCbride

DD had no reaction or fussiness with her 2 month shots.  We didn't give her Tylenol, as there's some research out there that says it may reduce effectiveness.

We figured that if she did have an issue, we could give it to her afterwards, and it would kick in pretty quickly.  But, it wasn't needed.

HikerBride07

As pp said, there has been research that says the vax's can be less effective when the child is given Tylenol or IB before or directly after the shots.  I would only medicate if she does in fact have a fever or other reaction and the doc suggests it.  We haven't had any reactions so far.

vtkgirl77

I was very nervous about DD's shots but it wasn't nearly as traumatic as I anticipated. She cried a bit when they went in but I was able to soothe her right away. I also had a bottle ready for after the shots. Our Pediatrician reminded us that the site of the shot is sore for a day or two so just be gentle with their little legs. We didn't notice any additional fussyness after the shots either.

LMH1209

DS slept a lot for the first day and a half or so after his two-month vaccinations.  I did give him Tylenol when we got home, but that was before I read about the recent study pps mentioned.  (As an aside, you'd be doing Tylenol at this age.  Motrin isn't recommended until the baby is six months old.)  I also nursed him right after the shots. 

He's reacted differently to each big set of shots so far -- sleepy after the two-month set, not much reaction after the four-month set and a fever and a lot of fussiness after the six-month set.  (We did treat his fever with Motrin this time.  Our pediatrician's office recommended giving him something to reduce the fever if it went over 101.)

At the two-month appointment, our pediatrician said that I must be more mellow than many of her patients' parents because I didn't have the Tylenol with me at the appointment... so a lot of people do give it at the time. 

Temp763151187501242

Allie just had hers last week and had no side effects.  She certainly screamed her little head off at the time but after that was a-ok.  Dr. Baldrate suggested I give her a little Tylenol and said that she might get a slight fever.  I gave her the Tylenol later in the afternoon, just one dose, and I'm not sure she really needed it.  She seems to have had no adverse effects.

Sofka

if you BF, BF her immediately after she gets the shots. This always helped to soothe my DD. You can also try blowing gently into her face as she's getting the shot to distract her.

Hey Jellisy

I'll also add, if you BF, and the nurse allows it, BF while you LO is getting the shots.  There is some numbing cream you can request in advance via prescription and apply to your LO legs to help with the pain.  There was a great article in Parents Magazine last spring about this.  I would google it.  My DD doesn't even cry when it is only one shot.  She looks shocked and then it is over before she figures out that crying might be the thing to do.  When there are two, that's when she gets fussy.  After the 2 month shots, DD slept, a lot.  No reaction after any of the subsequent ones.  We're doing the extended schedule.

eeclem

C barely noticed his. He was a tiny bit fussy when they went in, but was soothed pretty quickly. I was prepared to nurse him, but didn't even need to. It really wasn't bad.

He was pretty fussy about 6 hours or so after wards and I did give him Tylenol (our ped suggested it -- i hadn't heard about the study). He took a good long nap and was fine. 

Temp763151187501242

Something I've learned while being pregnant is that if you squeeze the skin that is about to be poked, it activates different nerves that when you do get the shot it doesn't feel all that painful.  I didn't think to do this while Allie was getting hers done until after she had already gotten them done.  I had a great nurse teach me this while getting poked for all our tests done during pregnancy.