Vaccinations Aren't Fun

Rocket has been pretty easy on us. He wasn't colicky, hasn't gotten sick, sleeps through the night, and is easy-going pretty much all the time. Even his cries are mild.

After a recent vaccination visit that changed, and we got our first small taste of what parenting could be like.

Our first few vaccinations went fine; he didn't mind the needle stick and mostly slept afterward. He would get his shot shortly before lunch on Wednesday and be back to daycare by early afternoon. This time, though, we got a call from Debbie shortly before 5:00pm, our normal pickup time. Anders had been crying inconsolably for the last 45 minutes! We knew something must be wrong, since he has never cried for more than a few minutes before. We left work quickly, stopping for some infant Tylenol along the way. By the time we got there he had calmed down somewhat but was clearly still uncomfortable. The instructions on the Tylenol said to "ask your pediatrician" for dosage instructions for someone his size and age, so it was a few minutes on the phone with the nurse before we were able to administer. A short time later he had calmed down, and it wasn't too long until he fell asleep, no doubt tired from both the vaccination itself and his extended reaction.

As we found out later, many doctors (and mothers) recommend pre-dosing your child with Tylenol before a vaccination, to lessen the possibility of this situation. I wish we had known that beforehand! The following day he was perfectly fine.

(Okay, so that photo was not taken during his vaccine reaction and was mostly included for laughs. The distortion was caused by a wide-angle lens.)

- Mike, Corinne, and Anders Rocket