Health Tip: When Your Baby Needs Shots

(HealthDay News) -- When it''s time for your baby to get important vaccines, you should stay calm and keep the baby distracted and as comfortable as possible.

Here are suggestions to help you and baby get through it, courtesy of the U.S. National Library of Medicine:

• Talk to your child softly and calmly, and don''t let yourself get visibly upset.
• Facing you, hold your baby on your lap in a firm hug during the shot.
• Try to distract your baby by blowing some bubbles or shaking a toy.
• For a very young baby, try putting a bit of sugar on the tongue or on the pacifier.
• Before your baby gets the shot, apply pressure to the area.

-- Diana Kohnle

Last Updated: Sept. 01, 2008

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