Making it through doctors appointments

We have an orthopedic appointment this week to discuss pain management and medicine for DS (4 years old), and are looking for suggestions for entertaining him so we can actually talk to the doctor during it.

DS is pretty tired of seeing doctors all the time. We seem to go at least once or twice a month. He gets bored or just doesn’t want to be there, and tends to spend the whole time trying to talk to us and get our attention, while my husband and I are trying to talk to the doctor. We bring a lot of things to try to distract him – a new coloring book and markers, a new small toy, books, small random things from the dollar store, and a tablet. While he can be entertained by watching something on the tablet for a while, the problem is we can’t rely on the tablet for the whole time, because DS gets upset if the doctor then wants to examine/speak with him when he’s in the middle of watching something.

Does anybody have any tips for making it through lots of long doctors' appointments?

muffinsmuffins
persimmon / 1023 posts

Apr 3, 2018

Not the same but we have to see a speech pathologist every other week for therapy and I’ve really only found that bribery and talking about what the therapist or doctor will do helps. For example, ‘remember from last time how the doctor had to touch your legs (or whatever) and listen to your heart beat? We need to let the doctor do that so we can make sure you’re healthy and strong, etc. and then after we are done, we will go get a donut/ice cream/granola bar/fruit snack/park/ride bikes, etc. But only if you let the doctor listen etc’ I just keep repeating it over and over on the car ride there and have him repeat it back. DS is 3.5 and at times was seeing some practitioner 1-2x per week. I gently remind him of the bribe if he starts acting out. Maybe not the best idea but the bribe can be anything your kid really likes to do/have.

ETA: if both of you attend the appointments, have one of you occupy him with games or whatnot and the other do the listening and talking. Make a list of questions beforehand from both of you so everything gets discussed.
Bluemasonjar
clementine / 920 posts

Apr 3, 2018

DS is 2.5 and is usually entertained by toys while we wait to see the doctor (my least favorite part). If he is being examined he is usually interested in what they are doing to him and we talk him through it. We give him a phone with his favorite shows if we need a distraction or sometimes a snack to keep him occupied.

I wish I had better ideas for you. I know how tough it is! Our specialist follow up appointments always seem to fall around the same time and it is grueling.
iluvboba637
kiwi / 549 posts

Apr 3, 2018

What if you saved the tablet for after the exam when you need to talk to the dr. Snacks and games while in the waiting room. At 4 he can play I spy, simon says, the grocery store game - I’m going to the grocery store I’m buying an apple that starts with an A, what will you buy that starts with a B, color game - name blank objects you can think of in ___color.
Mrs. Tiger
blogger / pomegranate / 3044 posts

Apr 3, 2018

If you're both going, can one of you focus on him and the other focus on the doc? Obviously not ideal... barring that, what about snacks? The melissa and Doug water wow things?

I let D use a tablet before we go into the exam room, but not in the exam room for the same reason (grumpy when asked to participate). He is pretty content playing with hot wheels driving around the floor or the exam table. I also will bribe him with being able to watch a show on the tablet the ride home if he listens well.
luckygirl
grape / 75 posts

Apr 3, 2018

@muffinsmuffins: Thanks! And I do think it is a similar situation. My kid is pretty easy to bribe now for other things, so I will be thinking about what might work well for him in this case. We have tried bribes for doctor’s appointments in the past that didn’t seem to make a huge difference with his behavior, but it’s been a while and now that he’s older it’s definitely worth trying again. And good reminder that I should be prepping him for the appointment ahead of time either way!

@bluemasonjar: Yes, the waiting to actually see the doctor can take so long! I feel like we wait for hours just to see the doctor for a few minutes. So it goes.

@iluvboba637: I agree that saving the tablet for the end is best. Sometimes doctors want to examine DS, talk, then do more examining, more talking etc. so that’s where it can get tricky. I think I need to try to discuss with the nurses and doctors beforehand to get a sense of when they will need DS to participate. Good ideas for playing some thinking/waiting games (he loves I spy), which are a nice change from the toys/activities we bring.

@mrs. tiger: Yes, maybe we need to work on dividing and conquering better. Usually I am the one focused on talking to the doctor while my husband entertains, but of course my husband wants to be involved and has questions too, and that’s maybe when things go off the rails.

DS can play quite nicely by himself most of the time, just not ever at doctor’s appointments anymore. I think they can be stressful for him (and all of us), especially since it took 3 years to diagnose his orthopedic condition. And we’ve been passed around to so many different specialists. Hopefully the appointments will improve now that we will only be seeing a couple of regular specialists.

We do always bring LOTS of snacks, but all the mentions of snacks here are good reminders to pack some more of his favorite (i.e. less healthy) ones that we don’t offer as often.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts so far. If anyone else has things that help them, please feel free to chime in!
MamaG
pomelo / 5298 posts

Apr 3, 2018

If there is an exam table with paper, let him color on it. If they have tongue depressors, let him be distracted with it. Ask if they have a nurse or aide available for distractions. At our ENT an assistant comes in with bubbles. When we went to wound care they had someone designated to just sit and play to distract my child. I’d also encourage your son to participate. Let him ask questions. They might not be relevant (do you have a pet? What color is your car? What is something in the room for?), it lets him feel like he’s part of the process and is getting some attention.
jhd
coconut / 8079 posts

Apr 4, 2018

i was also going to suggest letting your LO prepare his own questions. We recently took our almost 4yo to a consult about his baby brother. Big bro has had two questions he has been waiting to ask a doctor for the last several months and he was so excited to be a part of the conversation. Of course the rest of the time he wasn’t perfect, but if you could talk to your little guy ahead of time and let him know mommy has questions and daddy does too and maybe see if it helps him to think about his own questions.

Also I love the games like I spy etc that require no prep. My son has been loving rhyming words lately as well as when we make up a silly rhyme for him. Is he too old for stickers? We have matched up alphabet stickers to the alphabet printed on a page etc
luckygirl
grape / 75 posts

Apr 4, 2018

@mamag and @jhd: thanks, great idea to have DS think ahead of time about questions to ask the doctor too! I think he will love that.

In the past with many of the specialists it wouldn’t have been possible to include DS in that way, since some of the doctors were so rushed and I barely got to ask all of my questions, but again now that we will have two regular specialists I’m hoping things will be a little different.

Last night for DS’s bedtime story I talked him through the upcoming appointment, and he asked me a few questions about it, so I do appreciate all of your suggestions to have us thinking about preparing for it.
Mrsbells
squash / 13199 posts

Apr 4, 2018

@luckygirl: i wonder if it's possible to talk to thr doctor about this and have him examine your son first before you talk in detail. So then once he has been examined you can give him the tablet
jhd
coconut / 8079 posts

Apr 4, 2018

@luckygirl: oh it is hard when there are various specialists coming in and out and you barely have time to speak to them, we have had that happen too. I think you’re doing an amazing job thinking through all the ways to help your son and I like @Mrsbells: suggestion of talking to providers about doing as much of the exam at the beginning so that then your little guy can relax a little. What about legos or magnatiles as an engaging toy that might not be as intense as the tablet? We love Duplo and Lego juniors at our house
youboots
honeydew / 7622 posts

Apr 4, 2018

Snacks, new toys, books. Anything you would bring on an airplane
luckygirl
grape / 75 posts

Apr 5, 2018

@mrsbells: good plan to talk to the doctor about the sequence of everything and to see if we can get the examine part over with early on.

@jhd: We haven’t tried Legos at appointments yet so I’ll definitely be packing them this time! And thank you for your kind words about me helping DS – as you know all this medical stuff with LOs can be a lot, and it helps to have that extra support!

I’m feeling more prepared and hopeful it’ll all go more smoothly this time! Thanks again everyone for chiming in.

	Today	Monthly Record
Topics	0	1
Posts	1	1

Hellobee Boards

Making it through doctors appointments

You might also enjoy...

Reply

most popular tags

most recent archives

Recent Blog Posts

Recent Board Posts

Classifieds

Deals

Today's Leaders

Chronic Health Support

Today's Posts

Site Basics

Features

Series

The Team

More