Friday, May 15, 2009

Tip O' the week: the sticker and stamp solution

Remember this post lamenting how difficult it's been giving Elise her shots? I could have charged admission to our daily wrestling matches, only I was too embarrassed at getting out-maneuvered by an 18-month old.

I was pulling my hair out trying to come up with a way for Elise to get over her fear of the shots. She was getting too old (in my opinion) to forcibly hold down, and too young to reason with.

I am happy to say, we seem to have found a solution.

Elise loves story time at the library. Namely the end of story time. Because that's when the magical lady hands out the magical stickers that send Elise to the moon. It took a few weeks, but the hamster that runs on the wheel inside my head got moving, and I got an idea.

Why not use her love of temporary body art to help (bribe) her with her needle fear? And it works. It really, truly has 100% worked.

I went to Michael's and found a whole bunch of sticker booklets in their dollar section. We're talking 400+ stickers for a buck. I also bought a stamp pad that came with a bunch of stamps in Target's dollar section. Man I love a good deal!

Now when Elise sees me taking out her insulin, she starts yelling, "'tick? Tick? Tamp? Tamp?" (sticker and stamp) And makes a bee-line for the couch that we sit on to give her the shots. The leg shot, which was the trickiest, has become no problem at all! She just sits there and picks out a sticker (or holds onto the stamp), while I give her the shot. No crying, no fighting.

I am so ecstatic I found something that works. I'm hoping that it can be useful to others as well.

9 comments:

  1. Awwww :) BTW, Have you thought about trying those things that look like pump sites and you inject into them? You change them every 3 days like pump sites. I saw these on another blog and they look VERY cool! She'd only be getting one shot every 3 days and you'd inject all her other shots into the little site. Just thought I'd mention it :) I'd told my husband the other day that if Kacey was younger then we'd definately go that route if we still had to do shots. Might be worth checking into :) For now, I'm thrilled the stickers are working!!! GO MOM!!

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  2. I found the link to the blog post about it... LOL sorry!

    Here it is...
    http://www.idkids.org/2009/04/exploring-insulin-i-port.html

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  3. Good Job Mom!!! I know what it feels like to have such great success in some area with this dratted disease!! Jada occasionally throws a fit before a shot and our solution is Mr. Fred- he's a teddy bear sent to Jada while in the hospital by our dear friend here in Alaska. The bear is named after him! If Jada is having a hard time, we let her give Mr. Fred a shot and for some reason, it is great fun to stick that needle into Mr. Fred's arm, leg or rear end! Got to be creative at times, huh?

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  4. That is AWESOME! We like sugar free gummy bears for site changes. It doesn't prevent tears and wiggling entirely, but it definitely helps. Maybe I should try candy AND a sticker or stamp. If he likes them, I'll make sure to tell him it was your idea!

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  5. Can you send me your email address?
    maria.janney@gmail.com
    :)
    maria

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  6. Little girls love stickers!
    This post brings back so many memories for me. When my 3 year old daughter Cara was diagnosed this Feb. and in the hospital she would get stickers with every nurses visit to her room. From the minute she received her I.V.'s in the E.R. to the time that we left 4 days later. She had stickers all the way up her arms, on her shirt and even her forehead. I wish now that I had taken some pictures but at the time it was the last thing on my mind. Thanks for that post it made me smile!!

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