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How do you help a child get over the fear of needles and having blood drawn?

Asked by tranquilsea (17775points) July 9th, 2010

My dd had a very bad experience when she was younger. She had gashed open her shoulder and needed stitches. I think she was 6 at the time. I prepped her all the way to clinic that she would probably need to be frozen and that they would use a needle and it would hurt but I would talk her through it. She was good with that. When we got to the clinic and the doctor came in she told my dd that she wasn’t going to use a needle she was going to use something else that would just push a little water into the wound. I was puzzled and my daughter relaxed just before she was jabbed with a needle. She was surprised and in pain and ended up screaming the clinic down. I was horrified that the doctor lied to her especially because I had prepped her for it.

Ever since then she breaks down in tears and panic any time someone comes close with a needle. Today she had to have blood drawn and it was a mess. The lab technicians ended up having to hold her arm down.

How do I help her get past this? I debriefed her after she had the blood drawn and she admitted that it pinched but didn’t hurt that much. But she always says that it wasn’t that bad after but she can’t contain herself in the lead up.

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