BCG question

[supergolden88]

Baby boy is seriously testing my sanity (more on that in separate thread later)by not sleeping at night. Worse than he has ever been due to teething/ blocked nose.

He has a BCG jab on thursday and am wondering whether to take him or not considering how extremely unsettled he is - and witf final round of other jabs in two weeks.

Do babies react a lot to the BCG? I remember it gets pussy etc eventually...

[pebbles]

Mine didn't react to their BCG but I do know children who have (less pussy than when we got it as teenagers though) however I'm sure I've always been told not to get any kind of jab if baby is unwell or unsettled. I still haven't given our no.2 her mmr booster cos she's had ear infections etc and i've been told to wait until she is totally back to normal. Personally I would wait until back on form.

[Saffron]

The NHS mandate is to offer the BCG to all babies under 1 year old. If you feel you would like to delay your son's BCG, just have it recheduled. You may need to be firm about it though, as some BCG clerks can be quite pushy. SG88, I'd say go with your gut on this one. If your LO is not regularly mixing with high-risk populations, the risk of infection is extremely low.

When/if you decide to have the BCG (or any other jab), give a dose of baby ibuprofen and hour before the jab. Then give a dose of baby paracetamol directly afterwards. This dual approach is more effective than giving only ibuprofen/paracetamol after the jab. A topical lidocaine cream called Emla is also available for babies/children (and adults!) who are particularly sensitive to jabs.

xx

PS (re the sleep -- or lack of it -- we have sooo been there with Little Saff about this time last year... I have so much sympathy for you!!)

[buggie]

The jab isn't bothersome at the time - Bugglet had her's first week of January and it's just coming up as a mark/?blister now. It's done just under the skin rather than into the muscle so the affects are slower.

Is fine to have inbetween regular jabs. Emla cream (aka magic cream - used before blood tests) isn't licenced for use in babies under a year and wouldn't advise using it beforehand (pretty sure it isn't available over the counter).

[little h]

hello

My son didn't react at all at the time, I was quite worried about it and he didn't even flinch when they gave the jab. I was really surprised. Over the next 6 months though he developed a lump which got bigger and bigger and though wasn,t causing him pain or discomfort it did burst rather unexpectedly - horrible green puss everywhere, it was really grim. It then took several months for the then much smaller lump to disappear. Now, over a year later he has a small scar.

Helen

[supergolden88]

Thanks I may take him. If I survive today which right now is 50-50

[Saffron]

Emla's UK website says it is for use in fullterm babies, children and adults. GP said Emla cream was fine for babies if there was no family history of allergy to the active ingredient. And it is available without a prescription. I ordered mine online b/c my local pharmacy didn't have it in stock. xx

[reren]

Obviously i say this with zero medical knowledge but just to let you know my baby has never slept so well as after his bcg! Gave him calpol just after and he slept for hours!

[buggie]

Saffron Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Emla's UK website says it is for use in fullterm

> babies, children and adults. GP said Emla cream

> was fine for babies if there was no family history

> of allergy to the active ingredient. And it is

> available without a prescription. I ordered mine

> online b/c my local pharmacy didn't have it in

> stock. xx

...interesting, as in A&E we don't use it on babies due to the reasons stated & never heard it being recommended pre-jabs. We use it pre blood tests and as the effect of it is vaso-constriction it makes taking bloods even more difficult/more likely to lead to needing multiple attempts at it :'(

Even with emla cream, the baby will still cry at having the injection due to being held/being in a strange environment/picking up stress from parent. There could potentially be an effect for the BCG as it is sub-cut (just under the skin), but there is no way that regular jabs will be helped as these go into the muscle and the cream can't numb that far.

[Saffron]

Licensing may have changed recently...? From what I can tell, it's mostly marketed for pre-jab analgesia for 'fearful' children. I would think the other reason it's not so much used in A&E is because it requires the use of an occlusive patch for an hour prior to the injection.

Also, don't do what I once did, which is to turn up with the Emla patch in the wrong place. Doh! Bad mummy. I'm quite curious to try it on myself when I get my next jab.

SG88, hope all is well, and you survived. :)

xx

[jollybaby]

The bcg needle is tiny. I think it is slight overkill to use emla. Miss jb didn't flinch. She cries more going into her snow suit. Also as buggie says with most injections the drug is deposited deep into the muscle. A topical anaesthetic is not going penetrate far enough to prevent the stinging/ache from this. Surely applying a 'magic cream' could build the situation into something more than it is and lead to more problems with needle phobia etc? I expect it is marketed in that way to make money.

[ClareC]

Is Emla cream the patches they use in over 1's when taking blood / fitting a canular?

[Ruth_Baldock]

From a 'child's' point of view- I was forever having injections and bloods as a baby/child, and when Mum got out the 'special cream', it would make me even more scared and apprehensive. AND it didn't work, still felt it all. I said to her later 'I wish you hadn't have bothered with the emla, it made me so much more nervous'. It's worth bearing in mind.

SG88: The BCG hardly affected my son at all- he cried for about 10 seconds, then went back to grinning at us all. His sleep was the same that night as it always was (dire, at the time) and he was happy all day long. Sorry to hear you're having a tough time with Mini SG :(

[Ko]

Ruth_Baldock Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

>>

> SG88: The BCG hardly affected my son at all- he

> cried for about 10 seconds

same for our little boy. the scab did puss up after a couple of months but it didn't seem to bother him and the dr gave some cream for it.

[supergolden88]

Well baby had the shot and did not even cry. However his sleep (or complete lack of) is still beyond terrible. Trying to figure out what to do and I am at a loss