All of my children have had seizures following a vaccination. As a result, we break up our vaccinations and spread them out to help minimize the chance of seizures. 

My son and I sat in the doctors office for a well child visit, waiting for the nurse to come back with a vaccine. She walked in and explained what she was going to do. She slowly approached him to clean the location where she intended to give him a vaccination. 

He shook his head and his hand at her. 

“No” he said while he continued to shake his hand.

She kept moving and gently speaking in a calm voice telling him that he would be fine.

“No” he repeated with more urgency.

She kept walking.

“NO” he yelled and he physically moved away from her and toward me.

“You need to respect my no” he yelled at her. 

She stopped immediately, dead in her tracks. She looked up and made eye contact with me. I nodded and asked her for a moment, letting her know that she was going to respect his no and also that I was going to have a conversation with him.

We spoke quietly about what was going to happen and why.

“No” he said after verbalizing an understanding of our conversation.

“Ok” I said back. 

The nurse left and the doctor returned. She addressed him directly and had a conversation with him.

“It is my body and I get to say no” he said back.

“You are correct” she said and smiled at him.

The lesson he was learning was so much more important than the vaccination. At the next visit, he sat calmly on the examination table and got his vaccination without any rejection.