One-year-old Quentin Brown is held by his mom, Heather Brown, as he eyes a swab whereas being examined for COVID-19 at a brand new walk-up testing website at Chief Sealth Excessive Faculty in Seattle on Aug. 28, 2020. (AP Photograph/Elaine Thompson)

Again to highschool means extra germs, however acquainted signs like sore throats, fevers and sniffles have taken on a brand new which means in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Public well being insurance policies throughout the nation and world wide might require kids to get examined for COVID-19 and be symptom-free earlier than returning to highschool. This implies extra children are receiving nasopharyngeal swabs (additionally known as “nasal swabs”) or throat swabs to check for COVID-19.

As baby well being psychologists, we have now studied and ready tons of of youngsters and their households to endure medical procedures with ease. Whereas testing for the novel coronavirus could also be new, efficient methods to organize children for pain- and distress-free medical procedures usually are not. In reality, scientists and health-care suppliers have been working at this for a very long time! We’ve put collectively six high tricks to put together your baby for simple COVID-19 testing.

What to do earlier than

1. Put together your baby by sharing child-friendly data.

When kids or their mother and father are nervous about upcoming medical procedures, mother and father typically suppose that the much less data they share with their baby the higher. The other is definitely true.

Kids have vivid imaginations that fill within the lacking particulars, typically imagining issues as a lot worse or scarier than they’re in actual life. Sharing age-appropriate details about medical procedures with kids early on is a simpler manner of lowering fears.

For the COVID-19 check, mother and father ought to describe intimately what kids can count on — virtually like telling a narrative. Essential particulars embody the place they are going to go, who might be there, what they are going to see, how lengthy it’s going to take, what is going to occur and the way it may really feel.

Alex Rodgers, 6, cries and tries to squirm away from a medical assistant making an attempt to take a swab pattern up his nostril at a drive-thru coronavirus testing website in Seattle on April 29, 2020. Preparation and a coping plan may have made this a better expertise.

(AP Photograph/Elaine Thompson)

Be sincere along with your baby, persist with the information, and use impartial language. For instance, when describing the way it may really feel when the swab goes in: “Some children say that it feels bizarre like having fizzy water up their nostril and hurts a bit however others say it doesn’t actually trouble them.”

There are temporary scripts and photos about COVID-19 testing that you should utilize. There are additionally quick movies created only for kids from B.C. Kids’s Hospital, the Hospital for Sick Kids or the Mayo Clinic. Watch these collectively to provide you concepts for coping methods.

2. Create a coping plan.

It’s necessary to plan the methods you’ll use main as much as, throughout and after the COVID-19 check. And, it provides time to practise your methods. Understanding the plan makes it simpler for youngsters and their mother and father, particularly if anybody is feeling nervous.

Regardless of your baby’s age, they are often a part of growing the coping plan. Youthful kids will want extra parental help, however having “a job,” even one so simple as being accountable for sitting nonetheless, can improve their confidence. Older kids and youngsters could have their very own concepts of what helps them to really feel relaxed and keep calm, and giving them alternative when applicable helps them really feel empowered.

A girl and baby wait in line at a cellular COVID-19 testing clinic on Might 12, 2020, in Montréal.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

It’s particularly necessary to plan for any features that could be significantly tough on your baby — once you assist put together them forward of time (see No. 1), you may get some further clues about after they want essentially the most help.

3. Distract your baby whilst you wait with one thing enjoyable and interactive.

You and your baby will probably wait in line within the automotive or on foot, which may result in boredom, frustration or elevated fear about what’s about to occur. Use this time to distract your baby and have interaction them in one thing enjoyable or interactive. Hearken to music, ask your baby about their favorite present, make up a narrative, allow them to play a recreation or watch a video in your telephone or inform some jokes. Earphones could also be useful.

What to do in the course of the swab

When you have a number of relations getting examined on the identical time, have the kid who’s essentially the most relaxed or least frightened go first. Or go first as a father or mother to mannequin coping methods and present how simple and fast the check may be.

4. Use consolation positioning.

Consolation positions (not restraint) assist kids to really feel secure and calm throughout medical procedures. If you’re in a drive-through testing website, mother and father can sit aspect by aspect within the automotive subsequent to their baby with their arm wrapped round their baby. If you’re in a testing centre, youthful kids can sit on their mother and father’ lap both dealing with sideways or with their again to their mother and father’ chest. Dad and mom then maintain their baby shut, like a hug. Gently wrapping your baby in a blanket earlier than hugging them might assist.

Learn extra:

Worry of needles: 5 easy methods to ease vaccination ache on your baby (and your self)

For some kids, it could be useful for fogeys to softly maintain their baby’s brow to maintain their head nonetheless in the course of the swab. For older kids and teenagers, mother and father may be seated subsequent to them with a hand on their shoulder or leg to supply bodily consolation whereas the swab is in.

5. Inform your baby to lookup, take deep breaths, rely and shut their eyes.

Teaching your baby to take some deep stomach breaths from their mouth in the course of the swab helps them to remain relaxed. Counting collectively to 20 (and even the father or mother counting alone) retains your baby’s consideration on one thing aside from the swab and helps them perceive when it will likely be completed. Suggesting your baby shut their eyes can also assist.

What to do after

A medical skilled administers a COVID-19 check in entrance of the Kew Gardens Cinemas film theatre within the Queens borough of New York Metropolis on Oct. 5, 2020.

(AP Photograph/Frank Franklin II)

6. Speak to your baby about what they did nicely.

It’s very probably that your baby must get a couple of COVID-19 check of their life. Serving to kids keep in mind the check expertise in a factual or constructive manner makes it extra probably that the following check will go nicely and even higher.

Discuss one thing that they did nicely from their coping plan: for instance, “You probably did a terrific job taking your massive stomach breaths.” You could even wish to file a mini video interview with them in your telephone afterwards speaking about what they did nicely — this might assist for the following time.

Some kids could also be frightened that getting examined for COVID-19 signifies that they’ve the virus. Remind them that this isn’t essentially true, that the check outcomes will are available in a number of days, and that you simply and others are right here to assist.

This story is a part of a collection produced by SKIP (Options for Children in Ache), a nationwide data mobilization community whose mission is to enhance kids’s ache administration by mobilizing evidence-based options by co-ordination and collaboration. Discover these COVID-19 testing assets on the SKIP web site. #ItDoesntHaveToHurt

Kathryn Birnie receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Well being Analysis and the Canadian Ache Society. She is Assistant Scientific Director of Options for Children in Ache (SKIP)

C. Meghan McMurtry has obtained funding from the Canadian Institutes of Well being Analysis and the Canadian Basis for Innovation.