About your BabyJabs visit

What to wear to make vaccinations easy

Children under five years of age usually have jabs in the thigh, whereas older children can have them in the arm.

To help your child feel relaxed and comfortable, choose clothes that you can remove or roll up easily. Thin cotton layers fastened with poppers are perfect for babies, and loose or short sleeves are ideal for older children.

Cuddles and other great distractions

Our BabyJabs clinics each have a lovely child-friendly environment. In our London clinics, there are sensory features such as a bubble tube with fish to keep children entertained.

Usually, the nurse will ask you to hold your child in your lap (you can find advice about the best positions here). If you’re currently breastfeeding your baby, please feel welcome to feed them while the vaccination takes place – there is strong evidence that breastfeeding before and during an injection can reduce a child’s pain but, above all, your child will find it comforting.

If the injection is given quickly, they may not even see the needle or notice that anything has happened!

If you’re nervous about seeing your child have an injection, we suggest that you bring someone with you to hold your child on your behalf.

Older children generally find it less traumatic if parents explain to them that vaccination is a good thing. Use plain language to prepare your child for what’s going to happen at the clinic.

You might want to bring your child’s favourite toy, book or comforter to distract them.

Your child’s comfort

Our team have a gentle touch when it comes to giving children vaccinations, but we understand that you want your child to feel as comfortable as possible.

Some parents, particularly of anxious or older children, choose to apply Emla cream to the injection site on their child’s arm or leg an hour before they come into the clinic. Emla is an effective numbing cream, available without a prescription and suitable for children over the age of one. You can find information about how and when to apply Emla on the link above.

For older children, you can purchase a ShotBlocker, which is a simple, non-invasive device that uses a number of blunt contact points to saturate the sensory signals around an injection site, distracting the patient from the pain signals of the needle poke. ShotBlockers are available for purchase at our London BabyJabs clinics – simply bring yours with you each time your child needs an injection.

Some children worry about having an injection, so it may help you to know what happens in those rare situations when a child feels too anxious to continue.

The vaccine appointments last for approximately 15 minutes. If your child feels distressed, the nurse will ask whether you consent for the appointment to continue.

If you confirm that you want the vaccination to go ahead, you will need to assist the nurse in managing your child’s anxiety and ensuring they stay still for the injection itself.

At your request (and if someone is available), we can invite another child-friendly member of the team to help out.

The nurse may stop the appointment if they are concerned that your child is too distressed and may be injured during the injection due to uncontrolled movements. This decision will be made if the appointment has gone over its allocated time and you have not been able to reduce your child’s anxiety. In this situation, you would be asked to book another appointment.

(Please note that if the vaccine has been prepared for your child, we will charge a 50% fee as the vaccine will need to be discarded.)

If you decide from the outset that you don’t want to continue due to your child’s anxiety levels, you will be asked to reschedule your appointment for an alternative date.

Please bring your child’s Red Book with you so that we can record details of each vaccine in it. We will also provide you with a letter for your GP to confirm which vaccinations your child has had.

Give yourself enough time to get to your appointment without having to rush. Don’t put pressure on yourself to be in and out of the clinic quickly. If you are going to arrive late for your appointment, you must let us know as soon as possible.

If you arrive more than five minutes late for your appointment, we may not be able to see you in your allotted time. We will do our best to fit you in but cannot promise to do this as our clinics are often fully booked. You must expect to wait until there is an appropriate space in the clinic.

Our priority is to administer vaccines safely.