Tylenol before shots?

goalieamy24

So LO goes for his 4 month check up today.  He did not do well with his 2 month shots and so I was told by family/friends to consider giving him tylenol before to help.  Did/Are any of you planning to do this?  I hate to see my baby hurt.  

vanfox

I've read in a few places that pediatricians are discouraging giving LOs Tylenol before shots because it runs the risk of making them less effective - a lot of the mild side effects are just the baby's immune system dealing with the vaccines. If your DS was cranky and had trouble sleeping after the 2 month shots, Tylenol wouldn't really do much for it. If he was running a high fever (I believe over 101-102 is the general recommendation for medicating), you might want to wait to see if he has that same reaction this time and then administer Tylenol as needed.

cynnnabun

I gave it to DD2 after her 4 month shots, IMMEDIATELY, after. And she did 100x better than with the 2 month shots. I plan to do it after all of them. If it eases her pain, then I'm okay with it. I'm not gonna wait til she's screaming to give it to her.

youngnewlywed

I would wait til after the shots and see how LOs feeling.

ams8099

vanfox:

I've read in a few places that pediatricians are discouraging giving LOs Tylenol before shots because it runs the risk of making them less effective - a lot of the mild side effects are just the baby's immune system dealing with the vaccines. If your DS was cranky and had trouble sleeping after the 2 month shots, Tylenol wouldn't really do much for it. If he was running a high fever (I believe over 101-102 is the general recommendation for medicating), you might want to wait to see if he has that same reaction this time and then administer Tylenol as needed.

This is exactly what my pedi said! 

missamERICA

I would wait. I waited it out with my LO and he ended up not needing any.

cynnnabun

ams8099:

vanfox:

I've read in a few places that pediatricians are discouraging giving LOs Tylenol before shots because it runs the risk of making them less effective - a lot of the mild side effects are just the baby's immune system dealing with the vaccines. If your DS was cranky and had trouble sleeping after the 2 month shots, Tylenol wouldn't really do much for it. If he was running a high fever (I believe over 101-102 is the general recommendation for medicating), you might want to wait to see if he has that same reaction this time and then administer Tylenol as needed.

This is exactly what my pedi said! 

Just FWIW, I did this with DD1, too. She got Tylenol after her shots every time, too. And her vaccines seem to be working fine. She doesn't have any diseases that she's been vaccinated against. IDK, I get it. And I think everyone should make their own choice. But I'm going to give it to her when she starts crying, so why let it get there? And IMO, it absolutely does help when she gets cranky. She calms down and goes to sleep. 

nettie27

I don't like medicating if it is not needed. For us, nursing her or having a bottle ready was the best solution. The sucking calmed her. I have also heard that the tylenol can effect the effectivness of the vaccines.

MamabirdtoBe

We made sure E was in a great mood. We tickled her, made her giggle, and sang to her right before, then I nursed her right away. She cried a bit, and our hearts broke, but she was okay after a few minutes!

kaube

we gave him some tylenol several hours later when he seemed like he was in pain, but honestly his 4 mo shots went WAY better than his 2 mo shots. I would wait and see what your LO needs

RunningGal900

My oedi specifically said don't give any before. We gave some that night bc he had a fever. He did much better than the two month shots.

shamyfowler

kaube:

we gave him some tylenol several hours later when he seemed like he was in pain, but honestly his 4 mo shots went WAY better than his 2 mo shots. I would wait and see what your LO needs

This!

KERJF

Our pedi advised against if possible for same reasons others said. 

DD was fine after her two months. Cried, fed her, she was fine. Four months we had a harsher reaction (with a 102.7 temp the next day- which of course we did tylenol for).

I just dont see a reason in giving it prior as you dont know if they will need it or not (and i hate giving meds if its not needed!)

normajeane6126

My pedi told us not to give it before, and only to give it after if he had a 100+ fever or was obviously in pain. Honestly, the 4 month shots weren't nearly as traumatic as the 2 month ones. He didn't cry at all for the first one, and cried for about 5 seconds for the second one. His leg was pretty sore afterwards (he would cry any time we touched it), so we did end up giving him one dose of Tylenol.

GenaBoBenaWife

LO got her vaccines today. She did better than the 2 month shots, but I gave her Tylenol about 15min after b/c the last time we waited until she was in obvious pain & she was inconsolable even after giving her the Tylenol & basically cried herself to sleep in MH's arms.

PAmiler82

I'm in the "don't like to medicate if not needed" camp

We don't give anything before shots, but will after if our kids seem uncomfortable or run a temp.  I gave both kids Tylenol after their 2 month shots b/c they both ran slight fevers and were extra fussy.  Neither of them were phased by their 4 month shots (and Drew hasn't any trouble with any shots since) - so we haven't given any meds.

As always, it's up to you.  But in my experience the 2 month shots are by far the worst and it just gets better from there.

Doug_Laura07

At 2 month vaccines we asked our Pedi about giving Tylenol.  She suggested we give it while they were preparing the vaccines (prior to injection).  We gave it to him right before  they came in the shots and he did well.  He ran a very low grade fever for about 12-14 hours, but overall it was a very minor reaction to them (I think).  I am glad that we gave the Tylenol - it prevented any pain/achiness from getting out of hand.  We will also continue to do this each time DS gets vaccines.