Sister’s Sage Advice Overcomes Vaccination Angst

Posted on December 8, 2011 Updated on December 8, 2011

I will always be eternally grateful to my younger sister Rachel. Her vaccination advice continues to be a lifesaver after poor little Maddie had another bad reaction to her scheduled shots last night.

Having some idea of what to expect during this round of vaccinations made things a little bit easier – but not much.

I was hoping that Maddie wouldn’t suffer from the same reaction to her shots that she had last time, but that was obviously wishful thinking. About four hours after Maddie’s vaccination – my sweet little girl literally went berserk. She screamed with a fear and desperation that was more than enough to rip your heart out.

I instantly remembered my sister’s strange, yet very successful advice that she had shared with us when she was visiting two months ago. She said, hold the baby tight, rock her and sing to her. (You can’t be serious!) It worked then, I prayed it might work again!

I scooped up Maddie and held her tight, but for the life of me, I couldn’t think of the words to any songs at all. After 30 seconds, Maddie was screaming with an intensity none of us had ever heard before. Suddenly, through the fog of her wailing – the words to the song Everyday by the Dave Mathews Band came spilling into my swirling brain.

“Pick me up love, Everyday!”

The words spilled out into a jumble at first, but then turned into the song that I hoped would calm my panicked precious child. Like a magic spell, in less than 30 seconds she started to scale down. I kept on singing like an obsessed street person, terrified to stop even for one second. Two minutes later she was quietly staring at me, as I went over the song verse by verse, again and again.

Another few minutes passed by and the baby was sound asleep in my arms as Gina started coming by and applying warm compresses to the leg where Maddie received the offending shot.

It was a tough night for all of us, but once again, my sister’s unorthodox cure was a true lifesaver. She has two amazing children of her own, so I am thankful that she was able to share some of that critical knowledge with us.

Upon further review of why this strange solution actually relaxes the baby – I can only guess that when an infant reaches an uncontrolled panic mode, he or she is looking for a specific form of warmth, security and protection that allows them wind down in an active, yet completely safe environment. I’m not sure why singing (especially mine) conveys a sense of security; I just know that it works.