Could someone please give some advice regarding my 4 mth old son?

Question

My 4mth old son got his 4 mth's shots today and he is miserable. I gave him tylenol but he seems to still be in pain. The nurse said that I should put a cold rag on his leg and rub his leg but he screams when I even make attempt to touch his legs. Do anyone have any advice to what I should do to make him feel better?

He is driving me crazy because normally I would pick him up and he would stop crying however, he still cries when I pick him up. He is now taking a little nap because he cried himself too sleep. What a relieve but I am praying that he does not start up again...

Thank you guys for all your responses...

Answer 1

My doctor always suggested giving "motrin", not tylenol before shots.
Could have been just a preference, though.

But, my son would take 1 dose about 1 hour BEFORE the appointment so the medicine would have had time to kick in.

Ask your doctor for the next round.

Answer 2

I remember our daughter's 4 month shots. Oh boy. I thought she would be traumatized for the rest of her life.

She would yell out in her sleep as if she was having terrible nightmares about it. Poor baby.

Well, I didn't do anything topically for the injection site pain. I made sure I didn't touch them. Maybe make sure that his clothing isn't rubbing there.

Call your doctor and ask if you can give infant's MOTRIN to your baby, and how much. Sometimes tylenol doesn't work so well on inflammation from vaccinations. My doc recommended alternating motrin with tylenol.

Good luck, and call your doc. If he is a good pediatrician, he will return your call even in the middle of the night. Don't feel bad about doing that.

Answer 3

next time, try giving him the tylenol about an hour before you go to the doc...that usually helps.

i'd also try giving him a little teensy bit more tylenol (or motrin might be better) than you're supposed to for his next dose since he does seem to be in so much pain. try to stimulate him and snuggle with him and do whatever you can to try and keep his mind off of his leg. you can also try giving him a bath (assuming he likes baths). my son LOVES the water so that was always a guarantee to calm him down. try also just resting a piece of ice on his leg. it'll be cold but it might help to numb it faster.

keep an eye on the injection site. make sure it isn't too puffy or super red (since i'm assuming you went to the doc several hours ago). it MIGHT be infected, but i doubt it. if he's still super crabby tomorrow, call your doc and make a follow up appointment just to be on the safe side. good luck!!

Answer 4

unfortunately the only thing that's really truly going to help this one is time...doesn't make it any easier to deal with for the next couple days though does it?

try using a cool cloth instead of cold...put it on his leg (not now while he's sleeping, but when he's fussing about it), and hold it as gently as possible in place...it might take a few minutes before it provides him any relief at all, but it should help him a little.

no matter how he cries, cuddle & love him as much as possible (even harder because he may sleep much less for a couple days), if you breastfeed offer him the breast even when you know he isn't hungry, comfort nursing will help him feel good now. if you're not breastfeeding offer a pacifier frequently (if you're using it & he likes it) but if he immediately spits it out repeatedly give up for awhile, he'll just get frustrated with you, and try offering your finger instead. he may like your finger better (because it's you, duh) than the pacifier, but still may only suck or a minute or so before he stops...

Please don't be offended by me saying this, but too many people don't know this, and too many babies get hurt these days, so I have to add... NO MATTER HOW FRUSTRATED YOU GET WHEN HE CRIES, DON'T SHAKE OR HIT YOUR BABY! Crying will not hurt him, if you get too frustrated or upset, put him someplace safe (like the crib) and go have a cup of tea, try to calm down. Call someone to stay with him for a little while while you take a walk if you need to. Whatever you do, remember how much you love this little baby, he's crying because he's hurting, don't hurt him more by taking out your frustrations on him.

Good luck getting through this rough time, my thoughts are with you, I know it seems impossible now, but you WILL get through this...and the more you're there for him now the closer you'll be in the future...he'll remember who comforted him and made it all better next time he's upset and hurting!

Answer 5

It's frustrating, I know, but you are doing al you can. Perhaps you can try the cold cloth on his leg whilst he's asleep to kind of numb the area a little more so that it's not so bad when he wakes up.

You know that you were told that you could rub his leg, but you know this isn't working so don't so it anymore.

Just give lots of cuddles.
He won't be like this forever.

Answer 6

Try giving him a warm bath if he wakes up fussy. If you have and of the baby bath that have lavender in it that usually soothes babies. If that doesn't work and he doesn't seem to feel better by tomorrow i would make an appointment with his doctor because he might be having a reaction to the shot. Good luck!

Answer 7

Tylenol never really worked for me. I used childrens motrin.
Crying is normal. Tomorrow is another day . Everything will be alot better for him if not call your doctor and they will for sure recommend a remedy..

Answer 8

Honestly if he is in that much pain I would go see a doctor, and I generally don't advise that.

However your son could be having a serious vaccine reaction and be unable to tell you. Also a high pitched scream is potentially a signal that there are neurological complications.

http://www.thinktwice.com/stories.htm
"She was very rough with both my children and they both screamed so much at the time of the injections that I almost started to cry. After a few minutes Michael stopped crying, but Jonathan took about 15 to 20 minutes to stop crying. He finally fell asleep in the truck on the way home. As soon as we got home and I took him out of his car seat he started screaming again. This time it was very, very high pitched, and I tried everything to get him to stop crying but nothing seemed to work.

"I put him in his swing and after about two hours he fell asleep again. I called a service we have called Ask-A-Nurse. The nurse advised me that if the crying started again and lasted two or more hours to take him to the Emergency Room.

"Besides the crying, his leg was swollen and red. If you tried to touch his toes or anything pertaining to his left leg (the leg that had the injection) he would start crying again.



http://www.909shot.com/Diseases/whooping.htm
An unknown number of children reacted more severely to a DPT or DTaP shot with temperatures over 103 F., high pitched screaming, excessive sleepiness, persistent crying for more than 3 hours, convulsions, and shock/collapse. In some children these reactions can be followed by permanent brain damage or death. The frequency of more serious pertussis vaccine reactions in America is unknown, as is the rate of death and brain damage associated with severe reactions.

High Pitched Screaming or Persistent Crying for 3 or More Hours. George Dick, M.D., in his 1967 study stated: the reaction of persistent and uncontrollable screaming comes on about two hours after inoculation. It starts with a bout of screaming and the baby cannot be comforted or quieted. This screaming often lasts for about one hour and usually terminates with a period of exhaustion lasting for about 30 minutes, during which time the baby is restless but quiet. Screaming bouts then commence again and eventually the baby falls into a deep sleep for as long as twelve hours."

The authors of the UCLA/FDA study defined high pitched screaming as "a cry of unusual character, usually described by the parents as a high pitched scream. It was a cry that the parents claimed they had never heard their child produce before.

In a 1980 article, Edward Mortimer, M.D., observed: "Neurologic reactions, particularly in infants, are always worrisome, but two of the four that may be classified as such are really of unknown origin and are only presumed to be neurologic. One is an episode of prolonged, uncontrollable crying that begins within a few hours of the injection and lasts for at least an hour (sometimes for as long as six hours or more); this persistent screaming syndrome has been referred to by some investigators as "high pitched crying" which is reminiscent of the "encephalitic cry" sometimes associated with brain damage, but others have reported that the crying associated with pertussis vaccination is simply protracted."

***this persistent screaming syndrome has been referred to by some investigators as "high pitched crying" which is reminiscent of the "encephalitic cry" sometimes associated with brain damage****