Taking My Daughter for Her 1 Year Vaccinations

Today was vaccination day for my little girl, and honestly, I was dreading it far more than she was.

She had her 1 year vaccinations today, which meant three injections altogether, and despite already going through this stage with all three of my boys, I was still unbelievably nervous leading up to the appointment. You would think by the fourth child I would have mastered staying calm, but apparently not.

I tried my best not to let her see how anxious I felt because the last thing I wanted was for her to pick up on my nerves and become upset herself.

When we arrived at the appointment, the two nurses welcomed us in and instantly I could feel myself quietly panicking inside. I was trying so hard to concentrate on what they were saying, but my brain had already gone into full nervous mum mode.

After we sat down, I started taking her clothes off because I thought the nurse had asked me to remove both her top and jeans. Looking back now, I realise she had only asked me to remove her jeans. At the time though, I was so flustered and distracted that I completely misunderstood. I was fumbling around trying to undress her while attempting to hold myself together, and I think the nurse quickly realised I was more nervous than the baby was. She very kindly stepped in to help me.

Then came the moment I had been dreading.

I held my little girl tightly on my lap while the injections were given. She instantly tensed up, burst into tears, and tried to wriggle away from me. It broke my heart hearing her cry, even though I knew it would only last a few seconds.

Meanwhile, I was sitting there physically shaking.

As they repositioned her for the final injection, it suddenly dawned on me that I was never supposed to remove her top in the first place. Only her jeans. At that point I could have quite happily disappeared into the floor from embarrassment.

Once it was finally over, I thanked the nurses as quickly as possible and shuffled out of the room, still feeling slightly frazzled.

By the time we got back to the car, she had already started calming down with her bottle. The tears stopped surprisingly quickly, and during the drive home she was almost asleep, perfectly timed with her usual afternoon nap.

I carried her upstairs, tucked her into her cot with her blanket, and she settled down to sleep almost instantly.

She ended up sleeping much longer than usual, which naturally meant I kept quietly checking on her every so often. She looked so peaceful though that I did not want to disturb her.

When she finally woke up, I gave her some Calpol mixed into a little juice just to help keep her comfortable afterwards. Within no time, she was back to her usual self again, toddling around happily.

In fact, she seemed far more interested in the little plasters on her thighs than the injections themselves. The moment she spotted them, she sat down determined to peel them off one by one.

Thankfully, she has been absolutely fine so far with no reactions, which is always such a relief after vaccinations.

As stressful as these appointments feel as a parent, children really are far more resilient than we sometimes give them credit for. I think the whole experience upset me more than it upset her.