Pre-Medicating Before 4 Month Shots?

Tomorrow my girls are going to get their 4 month shots, and several veteran moms have told me that I should give them Tylenol about an hour before the appointment. I am super worried about fussy, unhappy babies and I am going to be by myself tomorrow because DH will be working until Sunday Morning. My question is, Did you pre-medicate your babies before you took them to get their shots? What are the pros and cons? How much should I give them? They both weigh about 10lbs. Thanks for the help!

 

I didn't find my babaies to be fussy after th einitial shock of the needles. After 10 min they were themselves. It took like 6 hours for them to get fussy. I would wait and give it to them oafter 4 or 5 hours. I am also getting shots tomorrow their 6 mo. and that is what I will do. Good luck hope it goes smoothly.

 

I would check with your ped. Most don't want them medicated before, because if they are running a fever for whatever reason, the meds would mask it, and if they do have a fever, they can't get the shots. I would just dose them once you are home if you feel they need it. Mine really never did it.

 

my doctor told me to bring the tylenol with me and give it to them there just before the shots ( i guess so they could see them first) My boys were pretty fussy the night after there 4 month shots both had a temperature which I wasn't expecting since everything went fine after the 2 month shots.

good luck with the shots!

erica

 

I've never premedicated. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me personally - I mean, if you were going to have a shot, would taking Tylenol beforehand make it hurt less? I give them the Tylenol afterward if they need it (and they usually do, since the vax make them feel yucky). Once you know their weights too then you'll know exactly how much to give them.

Good luck!

 

I've never pre-medicated and I've never needed to medicate afterward. My kids slept a little more on the days of their shots, but other than that there were no reactions that I needed to medicate them for. As Sharon said, the tylenol would mask any fever they might have and the doctors probably would advise against it.

 

I would bring the tylenol with you and ask the pedi about it. That way s/he can tell you exactly the right dose depending on what they weigh in at during the appointment. I've always given tylenol right after the shot either in the doctor's office or immediately when I get home. GL!

 

I work for a pediatritian and she says to give it after the shots or you can do it right before. We always take a temp before hand to make sure the child is not running fever.

 

Ditto to many of the responses. I bring the Tylenol with me and give it to them right before the shots as a preventative measure for fever. My babies always run fevers after their shots and this just helps.

I use .4ml. Confirm the dose with your Ped and you should be just fine! Good luck with the shots!! Ouch!

 

QUOTE(EricaG @ Feb 8 2008, 07:51 AM) [snapback]612344[/snapback]
my doctor told me to bring the tylenol with me and give it to them there just before the shots ( i guess so they could see them first)
erica


Ditto, our pedi even gave us some tylenyol samples so that we could give them right before the shots. We ended up giving the tylenyol every 4 hours for the first 24 b/c DS was really fussy after his 2 month shots. They were a little fussy that day but mainly slept it off, and were find the next day.

Good luck!

 

I have given tylenol just before the appt and our pedi is okay with this and then told us to continue every 4-6 hours as needed. HTH

 

We always do (except for the first set of shots when we didn't know about that). We give the first dose 1 hour before the shots and then a dose every 6 hours for the next 24 hours (not waking them up if they're asleep obviously). I don't know if it helps or not, but we've never had much problem with shots.

 

Our pediatrician recommends giving the Tylenol immediately before the shots. They do check temps first, then we give them tylenol and then do wts and all the other stuff before shots. We also give a dose of tylenol at bedtime to ward off any unnecessary crankiness/fussiness in the night. As for dose, i would either wait until you are there or call the office to check with the pedi.

 

we gave ours two oz of tylenol I think, after the shots they crashed.

 

We were definitely told not to give tylenol prior to the appointment because of the whole fever thing. We had to delay one round for one child because of a low grade fever.........if I had given any meds prior to the appointment the fever probably would have gone unnoticed.

I definitely wouldn't recommend giving 2oz, I hope that is a typo!

 

QUOTE(EricaG @ Feb 8 2008, 07:51 AM) [snapback]612344[/snapback]
my doctor told me to bring the tylenol with me and give it to them there just before the shots


That's what ours does as well.