Coping With A Finger Prick

How my 9-year-old and I got through the dreaded procedure this week.

On Tuesday afternoon, I hit the parent trifecta: both of my kids had their annual pediatrician check-ups, and then my son had an orthodontist appointment.

It was just as fun as you’d imagine.

The hardest part, by far, was my 9-year-old’s check-up. She’s had some traumatic experiences at the doctor — blood draws gone bad and other unpleasant moments — so she has a lot of procedure anxiety. I knew she wasn’t due for any childhood vaccines, so I was hoping for an easy go of it — and then the nurse announced that she needed to have a finger prick.

My daughter ABHORS finger pricks. Especially surprise ones. She immediately burst into tears.

I’ve written several newsletters already about how doctors, nurses and parents can support kids during medical procedures and also why they need to care more about children’s pain. Today I want to share what we all did, collectively, to support my daughter this time around — because it really, truly worked out in the end.