# Injecting



## MrsBoyle (May 25, 2010)

How do you manage to inject your little ones 
for the first 6 months we had to get my husband to hold him while i injected him but becuase of that my husband couldnt work. so the past month ive been doing it on my own and he will lie on the floor and i sit on him and hold his legs down and inject. im just looking for a kinder why of injecting him. but its the only way i can controll his legs and arms. as he kicks like crazy.


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## Becca (May 25, 2010)

MrsBoyle said:


> How do you manage to inject your little ones
> for the first 6 months we had to get my husband to hold him while i injected him but becuase of that my husband couldnt work. so the past month ive been doing it on my own and he will lie on the floor and i sit on him and hold his legs down and inject. im just looking for a kinder why of injecting him. but its the only way i can controll his legs and arms. as he kicks like crazy.



Hiya, Rose is 7 but she was diagnosed when she was 3.  I can so relate to your post about sitting on your child when it's injection time.  My neighbour could always tell when we were doing them as she could hear Rose scream through the walls.    It was utterly heartbreaking.  Have you tried star charts?  I know with Rose we did a chart that she got stickers for every injection, along the chart would be surprises that she could have ie. a DVD, a book etc... and at the end when she reached it was a big treat ie, a day out somewhere of her choice.  Nothing like bribery!!

Is it the pain of the injection that is causing the distress do you think?  We also used to put a sugar free ice pop on the injection site to numb it and then Rose could eat it when she was having her injection...


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## Adrienne (May 25, 2010)

MrsBoyle said:


> How do you manage to inject your little ones
> for the first 6 months we had to get my husband to hold him while i injected him but becuase of that my husband couldnt work. so the past month ive been doing it on my own and he will lie on the floor and i sit on him and hold his legs down and inject. im just looking for a kinder why of injecting him. but its the only way i can controll his legs and arms. as he kicks like crazy.



Bribery !  I speak from experience.  My daughter had to be injected since 5 weeks old so was used to it but hated it.    I am single so only had me to hold her and inject all at once.  It can be done.  I used to sit her on my lap, trap her legs between my legs, with one arm manage to keep her still and the other I injected her arm or thigh.  

However once they reach an age where they understand that if they sit still then they will get a treat it starts to come together.   Get a bag of goodies together, cheap toy things, for  a girl its a bit easier with hair stuff but I guess boys like plastic dinosaurs cars etc etc and for each good injection he gets a dip into the good bag. 

Worth a try maybe.


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## Adrienne (May 25, 2010)

Hahaha Becca, bribery, great minds and all that.  x


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## Gemma444 (May 25, 2010)

haha yep i used bribery aswell haha x


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## Monica (May 25, 2010)

Snap, C was older at diagnosis and did hold still for me, but I bribed her to do the injections herself. (And her seeing a psychologist for a little while helped too). It did take 2 1/2 years to get her to do them herself.


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## Kei (May 25, 2010)

Bribery here too!  I know my two are older, so it's easier to explain to them, but they still have to be bribed.  If they do every injection without complaining for a week, they get a prize on Sunday evening (hairclips, books, new pens...).  I'd imagine you'd need a more instant reward than that for a 3-year-old though.

Are you using the Penmates for the injections?  I know "Jimmysmum" on here uses them for her 3-year-old's injections and they're less scary than the normal pens because you can't see the needle.

Kei
xx


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## Gemma444 (May 25, 2010)

kei's come up with a good idea, a pen mate would be good for your little one, your DSN should be able to provide you with one.

gem x


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## Monica (May 25, 2010)

C doesn't use the penmate, BUT she uses the 8mm Novofine Autocover Needles. They work on the same principle as a fake toy knife that retracts if you "stab" someone. The needle has a tube surrounding it, making the needle invisible, unless you look closely. When she pushes down, the tube retracts and the needle goes in the leg (she won't entertain the idea of injecting in her tummy). The only downside is that the needle is 8mm, which means she has to pinch her leg. I still feel it's next to the bribery one of the reasons she managed to inject herself.


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## jimmysmum (May 25, 2010)

MrsBoyle said:


> How do you manage to inject your little ones
> for the first 6 months we had to get my husband to hold him while i injected him but becuase of that my husband couldnt work. so the past month ive been doing it on my own and he will lie on the floor and i sit on him and hold his legs down and inject. im just looking for a kinder why of injecting him. but its the only way i can controll his legs and arms. as he kicks like crazy.



Hiya,

My daughter was 2 on diagnosis (Feb this year) she was 3 in April. We had the exact same problem, it always took 2 of us to inject but since we found the penmates its been a whole lot better, she does cry still at the Levemir (says it stings) but its improved injection time so much because she cannot see the needle, the penmate is like a case that goes round the pen and you pull it back and it fires the needle into the skin so fast they can hardly feel it, it also confuses the nerves thus less pain when the actual needle goes in, get on the phone to your dsn as soon as you can as they really will make your life so much easier. I manage to sit D on my lap now she cuddles me and she actually chooses a site, yes she crys at the Levemir but the kicking & screaming is gone.
I know how you feel its so stressful having to hold them down its just so unfair and they are so little  I stocked up on princess stickers for D she got one for every injection, maybe you could do the same for your son in a theme he likes, Thomas or something? let us know how you get on xx


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## jimmysmum (May 25, 2010)

http://www.novonordisk.com/diabetes...te/quickguide/view.asp?Id=2120&audioStatus=on 

Above is an explanation on how they work x


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## rspence (May 25, 2010)

*parenting course calls them incentives!*

hi mums,

a parenting course i have led in the past calls bribes incentives which is funny cos it does the same thing but i guess makes you feel more positive as parent! 'Bribes are if you gve the child the item before they have obligied, incentives are if you reward positve/calm behaviour.' apparently!

FOR JP: Sticker charts, job lot of favourite toys sold on email drip supplied as bribes, i mean incentives, letting him be invovled, i made a book for him about his diabetes (saw someone else has done this already also), adapt a book about one of his favourite characters getting type 1 diabetes, make up songs about the ordeal, sing your way through it, distractions, oh and get the teddy from juvenile diabetes website - its free http://www.jdrf.org.uk/page.asp?section=00010001000400030001&itemTitle=KIDSAC

Its so hard when they squirm and wriggle and scream. Although he has 4 injections a day I've been lucky with JP as he's a tough cookie and decided on day 5 he was going to brave. Though recently he's stopped being so brave and begun whimpering at the mention of insulin, so we're back to the 'incentives'. To be honest I reckon he just wants more toys!

Hope you find the right way forward for your family, sometimes its about breaking the habit and sometimes its about riding the storm,

good luck
rachel


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## Monica (May 25, 2010)

rspence said:


> hi mums,
> 
> a parenting course i have led in the past calls bribes incentives which is funny cos it does the same thing but i guess makes you feel more positive as parent! 'Bribes are if you gve the child the item before they have obligied, incentives are if you reward positve/calm behaviour.' apparently!
> 
> ...



 in that case C has received incentives!!! She didn't receive her present  until after she did her first injection herself and then the big one after she'd been injecting herself for one month


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## Northerner (May 25, 2010)

Monica said:


> in that case C has received incentives!!! She didn't receive her present  until after she did her first injection herself and then the big one after she'd been injecting herself for one month



I didn't get any plastic dinosaurs when I started injecting myself . Then again, I was 49 so maybe that had something to do with it  I really feel for all you parents, it must be so distressing for you to be giving injections when the little ones don't understand.


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