4 Months Old Got Shots

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4 Months Old Got Shots

by Jennifer
(Des Moines, Iowa)

My 4 month old daughter had shots this morning. Is it okay for her to sleep all day? If I do that, will she sleep tonight?? Should I try and wake her up every few hours?

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4 Months Old Got Shots

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Mar 16, 2009

Let her sleep...
by: Baby Help Line

Hi Jennifer,

I can't say I have any supporting research (more than my kids) to say this, but her sleep. Many babies do after getting their shots, and I suppose they need it.

If you're lucky, she'll have a really good night's sleep too. I remember with my daughter I used to joke with her doctor that I wanted my baby to have shots at least once per week - that was the only time she slept well at night. ;-)

Our youngest wasn't at all as affected. It is very individual.

Maybe she will wake up at night if she does sleep a lot today, but it's just one night...I'd let her have her rest...

Let me know how things went!

Paula

Jun 10, 2009

4 month shots
by: Anonymous

My grandson was irritable today not the first 24 hours after his shots. Woke up crying out which he normally does not do. Does this sound routine after those 4 shots?

Sep 01, 2011

I have 5 month year old twins but 6 weeks early.
by: Anonymous

They get their shots tomorrow, should I give them Tylenol before and when they wake up in the middle of the night should I give them some?

Sep 01, 2011

Minimizing the pain for your babies
by: Paula (Baby Help Line)

Hi,

Since your babies are just over three months calculated from when they sould have been born, I think it would be wise to consult their doctor before giving Tylenol, since the general recommendation is to not give acetaminophen (the active component in Tylenol) to babies younger than 3 months.

If you worry about the pain, there are other ways to minimize it too, at least when to shots are given.

One effective way reduce the pain is to breastfeed. Breast milk, together with the comfort of snuggling close to mom has shown to reduce crying during shots significantly. Here is a link to a research study confirming the reduced crying when breastfeeding during immunization injections.

If you don't breastfeed, research has found that sugar water can actually have a similar effect for babies younger than 12 months.

This is how to make the sugar water:

You boil 2 tea spoons of white sugar in 1 ounce (0.3 dl) of water. (Or probably double that, since you have two babies.)
Bring the solution together with an infant Tylenol dropper to the doctor's office.

Right before the shots, stir the solution and give your baby two full droppers of it. Try to get the solution onto your baby's tounge, because he or she needs to taste it, for the solution to have effect.

The pain relief starts after 2 minutes and lasts for about 5-7 minutes.
If for some reason the short are not giving within 7 minutes; give your baby another dropper before the shot.

If you place your baby skin-to-skin in you arms, it will provide extra pain relief as well.

You can read about the recent research on sweet solutions for analgesia in infants here. The results are clear and consistent; sugar solutions work well to reduce pain during vaccinations for young babies.

In addition to breast milk and suger, there are creams (EMLA or LMX) that can be very effective to minimize pain. Have a chat with your babies' health nurse today if you can and want, to see what creams to use and where on their bodies the shots will be given. You can of course discuss Tylenol then too.

I hope this helps,

Paula

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