My 5 year old son was diagnosed in February. So far he is only allowing injections in the backs of his arms. The doctor has said this is okay for now, but we obviously need to introduce new sites. Anyone have any helpful tips on getting a young child to allow new sites, especially the abdomen?
Thanks!
My daughter is 9 dxed 12-15-09 so not to long ago and she just started to let us do or do herself injections in her tummy. We just kept telling her how important it was to do different sites. She is 9 tho and can understand the why its important. I am not sure if a 5 year old would or not.
My daughter did the same thing when she was first diagnosed (at 4 1/2). I sat down with her one day and explained that she needed to try her shots in different places, and explained what other places she could choose. She stubbornly ignored everything i was saying. So, I just use to ask her every time we did her shots if she would like to try a new place. It took several months, and eventually, I had to let her help me do the injection, but she did start letting us do her legs too.
Try his butt or thighs first before belly. My 4yo son is just over 1 year post dx and he only allowed shots in arms, legs, and butt (butt preferred.) We are trying now to get him to try pump sites in his belly, but so far, no go.
I'm not opposed to offering incentives or prizes (OK, it is bribery) for trying new things. Usually after the first 1-2 times, I don't need to offer the prize anymore and $1 store items are fine with my son, so I'm not breaking the bank. :)
This is really common. My boys have the hardest time moving sites! Even my son that has been T1 for 12 years resists new areas. Your son will agree in time. The anticipation of it all is the worst. Once they have the first shot in the new site, it is usually smooth sailing after that. We tell the boys that they have to try something new once. And if they hate it, we will respect their decision. It is so personal for them. (We're all about bribes too:) Good luck! He'll come around!
One more thing, one of my boys was resistant to putting his pump site into his stomach. He agreed to let us put in a site when he was asleep, he woke up amazed and proud that it was there. He has been open to stomach sites ever since.
My son has a really hard time allowing injections in his arms....he prefers the legs and abdomen. One thing that has worked for us is stickers and a blank calendar. Each time that he gets an injection he gets to put a sticker on, but each site earns different amount of stickers (the site he doesn't like is of course the one that earns the most stickers). We have had pretty good luck with this, but I will say that we have to have some pretty cool stickers in order for him to choose his arms! Good luck