Preschooler not crying during blood tests?

[Narnia]

My DD 3 has had her blood tested a few times in the last year and has never cried. She doesn't fight, scream, say no. I think she kind of likes it. Crazy but I really think she likes seeing the "butterfly" fill viles up with blood. Is she just an odd one? We saw a few kids this time at the hospital needing blood work and they all screamed and needed three people to hold them down. The nurse was shocked wierded out when I told her it was ok with just her. My DD was happy to get her cotton ball bandaid and sticker and was acting happy like she just cam from a candy store. Not worried just wondering if anyone else's kids are like that ( or what reaction they have to blood tests).

 

[MousekeMommy]

My "baby" has been regularly poked and prodded from the young age of 6 months old (heart condition--lots of tests/hospital stays/surgery). He never used to cry or get upset at all--he just now started crying out after the 3rd or 4th stick in one session--and he's 5. So this behavior isn't completely unique, and it can change, in my experience. I found that I shouldn't compare my child to "normal" children--it's not "normal" to have so many health issues at his young age, so how can I expect him to act "normally"? (My older child has always screamed and tried to fight the nurse for regular vaccinations. His younger brother, though, has told him since he was 2, "it's okay . . . I'll go first". What is 1 or 2 sticks in comparison to receiving and sitting with several IVs and hep-locks for days?) So I don't think you need to be overly concerned at this point . . . it's not like your child is a teen and getting pleasure from cutting herself or anything . . . she's observing adults--professionals--taking an interest in her and encourage her cooperation, and she is having a positive reaction, no matter the momentary discomfort. I think she's fine . . . Just be prepared if/when the floodgates break and it's just too much all of a sudden (that has been some of our more recent experiences--the "it's not fair", "why me", "I don't want to do this anymore" on occasion.)
Sending prayers and pixie dust!

 

[Piper]

My son also had a lot of tests and "sticks" when he was young. When he was 4, he was in the hospital and the technician came in to get another vial of blood. She started the distracting techniques they use and he looked at her and said, "Don't worry. You don't have to do that. I won't cry." The look on her face was priceless!

 

[mechurchlady]

Your kid is abnormal. Why? Since birth a child watches the world go by and picks up things like how to act and react to things. Most kids have parents who overreact to shots and needles as "OOH not a shot" so the kids learn to have that same loathing and fear. Your daughter equates the process with happiness not fear and pain. Some nice nurses or lab technicians have made the experience a happy one and made her feel comfortable. Her happiness and calmness is a sign of good people making a kid comfortable.

You are blessed to have a good kid like yours. Enjoy her happiness. I wish she was normal and all kids were like her. She has a geat mom.

 

[Narnia]

Thans for the replys. I'm sure she will have many more blood tests in the near future hopefull she doesn't change that would be really horrible.

 

[acjeff]

This might be a problem only if she does not respond to other painful stimulus-such as falls,cuts, hot water...then it would be time to see a neurologist to see if she is having any loss of sensation (there are various types of neuropathy which can be confined to the upper body, so she could ignore pain in her arms yet still be distressed if she stubbed her toe). The type of neuropathy that would cause her potentially to not to feel the needle stick, would be sensory neuropathy of some sort.
Of course she is probably just a calm, happy child