Helping Your Child Cope with Pain

It can be hard watching your child try to be brave as their body is wracked with pain, but it is inevitable that most of us will suffer some kind of physical pain at some point in our lives, which means many children will have to deal with pain too.

 

One of the best things you can do when your child is in pain is to focus not on how tough it is for you or how awful it must be for them, but what you can do to help them through it, and with that in mind, here are some top tips for helping your child cope with pain:

 

Be their advocate

 

Forst of all, it is important to note that not all children can or will tell the doctors that they are experiencing pain, but most of them will, if they are able, feel comfortable enough to tell you, so you need to be their advocate.

 

This means very gently getting to the bottom of where their pain is, what it feels like, and how long it has been happening. Take things slowly, reassure them, but do all you can to find out what’s going on and then let the doctors know too.

 

Get them the right help

 

It’s also vital that you get them the right help whether that be a doctor, a dentist, or a pediatric chiropractor. That will depend on the type of pain they are feeling, so again you need to talk to them and look for non-verbal signs like clutching their stomach or struggling to walk, which can give you a clue as to what is going on.

 

Distract them

 

It’s weird, but the more you focus on pain the worse it can seem to feel. So as a parent, one of the best things you can do for your child when they are in pain is to provide them with a fun distraction. This could be watching a favorite movie, reading a great book together, or simply talking about anything but what is going on with them.

 

Comfort them 

 

Of course, being in pain can be very distressing for your child, so it is important that you are also on hand to comfort them when it all gets too much. Empathy is key here, Do not try to downplay their pain or tell them to toughen up, but listen to how they are feeling tell them you understand, and talk about what you and the doctors are going to make things better.

 

Consider therapy

 

If your child is likely to experience chronic pain, and if they are not dealing too well with their symptoms, then finding them a good children's therapist who specializes in pain and illness counseling is a really good way of helping the to get to grips with how they are feeling and explore ways of coping with a professional who understands.

 

If your child is hurting, try to stay calm, do what you can to help them, and just be there when you need them, that is all you can do.