“You’ll remember this day forever and yet he’ll forget it right away,” the pediatrician told me right before she stabbed my two-month old’s beautiful chubby thighs with the dagger – three times! A mother never forgets her baby’s first set of shots.
But this was 8 years later. I felt more ready; I had done my mental preparation exercises. So we get there for her first shots and baby girl is super happy. Giggling and looking up at me with those huge, brown eyes, entrusting me with her entire life – and then stab. Three times again. Major cry, excruciating cry, real tears! Luckily both babies calmed right down with the help of some distraction and a pacifier.
But shots still remain a dreadful childhood experience. Today, however, shots went down differently – and it’s all thanks to a genius product call the Shot Blocker made by Bionix.
The Shot Blocker is a small plastic circle whose underside is covered with blunt skin contact points. When pressed firmly against the skin, the pressure created by the contact points numbs the skin. Essentially we are tricking our brain to react to the first pain by giving off a temporary, yet effective anesthetizing sensation, minimizing pain.
This is the first time I have ever seen this contraption used. My baby did not cry for the first two of the three shots! She did cry a few seconds after the third shot. (The pediatrician admitted that the third shot was the most painful, so clearly baby girl was justified.
Why isn’t everyone using this wonderful plastic devise? It could revolutionize the experience for immunizations, allergy shots, insulin shots and more. Thank you James Huttner, M.D., Ph.D. for this invention.
Read more about it here.
The shape of the one my pediatrician actually used was a circle with a hole in the middle like a bullseye, but the idea is the same.
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