Help Your Child To Be More Comfortable With Their Doctor

If your child is not comfortable with their doctor, there are many things that you can do to help them change this.  It is important that your child feel comfortable with their doctor for many reasons.  You don’t want them to feel anxious every time they have an appointment.  You do want them to feel comfortable to talk to their doctor and share what is bothering them from their perspective.

To help them feel more comfortable with their doctor, try setting a good tone.  Many times children pick up on our attitudes and perspective.  Try to be relaxed and act as if a doctors visit is a good thing, which it is.

Talk to your child about the doctor and their staff before your visit.  Tell them that the doctor, nurses and other support staff have chosen this profession because they enjoy children and like to spend their days keeping them healthy.

Be available when the doctor is in the room to help out when your child feels uncomfortable talking to the doctor or explaining their illness or injury to them.  However, it is good to first give them a chance to talk to the doctor on their own.  If they are especially shy or nervous, consider having your child draw a picture of themselves and draw arrows or put circles around the parts that are causing discomfort.  My daughter did this for years and our pediatrician always faithfully thanked her and filed each picture in her chart for future reference.

Make going to the doctor a fun event.  In the winter, my children look forward to a warm beverage from Starbucks after a doctor visit and in the summer the want ice cream.  You can easily tailor that to fit your own children.

In time, your child will become comfortable with their doctor.  Kids Health has a great article that offers more information on this subject.