Let’s be honest, how many times has your child come to you saying something hurts, and most of the time our reaction is :”Oh I’m sorry, let Mommy rub your tummy.”….or something along those lines. We tend to underplay our children’s pain, just because they cannot properly express it. This happens more often than not in medical settings as well.
My daughter died of bronchial pneumonia which turned to sepsis in the span of 5 days, and her primary specialist prescribed Nurofen and Panado. Can you image your lungs crumbling from infection, your organs shutting down and all you have is a Panado? This was due to her being unable to express her pain accurately , and no matter how many times I tried advocating for her, they wouldn’t listen, because what do I know?
It was only after contacting the PC doctor that we were able to medicate her with morphine, but by that time the pain was so immense the morphine might as well have been sugar water.
Doctors tend to forget their number one source of helpful information and expertise when it comes to caring for children – THE PARENTS. It’s important to remember, that parent is more often than not with their child 24/7, they know them better than they know themselves. When assessing pain in children, especially non-verbal, listen to the parents. They don’t think their child’s “Owie” or “Eina” is cute, they know it’s rooted in pain, they know their child’s pain responses and how they react.
Just because someone is small, doesn’t mean their pain is small as well. On the contrary, where adults have the ability to compartmentalize their pain, children are often consumed by it. A small eina can be all consuming for a child, and it’s our job to ensure that they don’t get swallowed up in their pain.
