7 important things to keep in mind when taking your child for vaccinations.

Getting all vaccinations on schedule is the best way to protect children from illness. Here are 7 important things parents should remember when taking their children for vaccinations.

Before vaccination

Children need to stay in the hospital for at least 30 minutes after receiving an injection.

Parents should avoid overfeeding or over-nursing their children, but they should also avoid letting them go hungry, as this could lead to hypoglycemia after vaccination.

Keep your child clean to minimize the risk of infection. Additionally, dress your child in simple clothing to make it easier for the doctor to administer the vaccination.

Mothers need to bring all of the child's records and documents, especially previous vaccination records.

Before vaccination, parents should remember to discuss their child's health status with the doctor, including whether the child is malnourished, has any acute illnesses (such as fever, pneumonia, bronchitis, etc.), medical history, allergies to medications, chemicals, or food, etc.

If your child has shown signs of allergy, fever, etc., after previous vaccinations, you should inform the doctor so that appropriate action can be taken in case of an emergency.

After injection

After a child receives a vaccination, the mother should not take the child home immediately but should stay and monitor the child for 15-30 minutes to prevent anaphylactic shock.

If the child shows no reaction, the mother can take the child home but still needs to monitor them further. Observe for fever, skin manifestations, behavior, fussiness, whether breastfeeding is normal, and bowel movements. This is especially important for children receiving their first vaccination at 2 months old, including the first dose and the 5-in-1 vaccine.

In children with sensitive skin, the injection site may become swollen, red, and lumpy, but mothers shouldn't worry too much; this will disappear on its own after 6-8 hours. At this time, mothers should apply a cool compress (not a hot one) to the injection site to reduce pain, give the child plenty of fluids, breastfeed more often, and dress them in loose clothing.

Over the next 24 hours, the mother can apply a warm compress to help reduce swelling, improve skin respiration, and promote faster recovery.

Additionally, some mothers are now sharing tips on rubbing lemon or applying a thin slice of potato to the injection site to reduce pain and swelling in children. However, this method is not recommended by medical professionals because children's skin is extremely sensitive, and doing so can increase the risk of infection at the injection site.

For mild fevers, around 37-38 degrees Celsius, mothers can use cooling methods to reduce fever, such as rectal suppositories. If the fever is above 38 degrees, use fever-reducing medication, which works faster.

Cases where children should not be vaccinated

Each type of vaccine has contraindications for different groups of children. For example, with the tuberculosis vaccine, premature babies weighing less than 2.5 kg must have their vaccination temporarily postponed. The vaccine is administered between the first and second month of age.

Therefore, before taking your child for vaccination, mothers need to find out if their child is eligible for vaccination and discuss the child's current condition with the doctor.

There are also some other cases where children should not be vaccinated, such as: children with acute illnesses, usually manifesting as high fever, fatigue, cough, runny nose, diarrhea; children with diseases related to allergies, immune systems, etc.

Dosage for children in each vaccination session.

Two types of live vaccines should not be administered within a 4-week period. Additionally, multiple different vaccines can be given in a single injection. Live vaccines include those for diseases such as tuberculosis, measles, and chickenpox.

Administering multiple vaccines in a single vaccination session can lead to adverse reactions and allergies in children, and it's difficult to monitor their response because it's unknown which vaccine their body is reacting to. Therefore, it's best to administer only one vaccine per vaccination session.

Two or more vaccines may be administered in cases where the vaccination site is far from home, or for children who have undergone organ transplantation, etc.

Some reactions after vaccination

Mild fever: Fever is the most common reaction in children after vaccination. This is how the child's body reacts to the vaccine and usually resolves on its own after 1-2 days. However, in some cases, children may experience a high fever above 39 degrees Celsius; in such cases, parents should take their child to see a doctor immediately for timely treatment.

The injection site may be swollen, red, and painful: This may last for several days, but it's a completely normal reaction and will resolve on its own; there's no need to worry. You can apply a cold compress to the injection site to help reduce pain for the child.

Allergies: Children may develop hives or itching all over their body… Usually, these allergic symptoms will resolve on their own after a few days, but if the child is experiencing significant discomfort, some antihistamine medication may be necessary.

Other reactions: In some cases, children may experience rare reactions such as neurological complications, lymphadenitis, encephalitis, etc. These are severe reactions that can threaten the child's life if parents do not take their child to the hospital promptly.

Things to keep in mind when taking your child for vaccinations on cold days.

On cold or drizzly days, parents taking their children for vaccinations should pay attention to keeping them warm. Avoid letting cold air penetrate, as this can easily lead to respiratory illnesses. Parents need to ensure their children's hands, feet, and body are warm enough and that they are protected from rainwater.

When should you take your child to the hospital?

After vaccination, if children show any unusual symptoms such as fever above 39 degrees Celsius, high fever lasting more than 2 days, convulsions, cold or cyanotic extremities, difficulty breathing, fussiness, unresponsiveness to common fever-reducing medications, refusal to breastfeed, swelling or redness around the injection site, etc., parents should immediately take the child to the hospital.

According to Zing.vn