For the first year of Little Miss Khaos’ life, she was at the doctor at least once a month some times more. Not because she was sick, just for check ups. It doesn’t make appointments any more manageable when someone is poking and prodding at her! When she goes to the CF Clinic they have to do two throat swabs in a row. Holding her down has become a challenge but our clinic told us to practice at home. They have us a tongue suppressor to take home and the morning before her next clinic we spent 30 minutes practicing saying “awwww” low and behold it worked! She sat through the first swab just find, but the second one shocked her. We had been looking for a medical kit or a doll that she could practice throat swabs on. We recently stumbled across this doll in a online yard sale site. A very good friend surprised us with it a few weeks later! She LOVES this doll. She plays doctor with it every day, and hopefully at our next clinic (next month) we will see if it has helped her handle and understand the appointments. I will warn you it talks lol but it has an off switch! Heck Yes! It takes 3 batteries, and they lasted her about 2 months? Which was kind of a disappointment but that shows how much she plays with it. I’ll update this post on how she does, I am in search of a medical mask for the doll, we brought some home so we could practice with her on leaving them on but that hasn’t improved. I am thinking if the doll had one her size it would help Little Miss understand that it’s ok to wear it. So if there are any sewing fanatics out there, let me know if this is something you could create for us. (maybe 5 of them?)
Oma (Grandma) also picked her up a medical kit at Target which has the blood pressure band that she also has to do at every appointment.
How do you help your child deal with pediatric or doctor appointments?