Nature noises help kids face needles
Children and needles have never been a great mix, with parents and medical practitioners alike trying everything from lollies, balloons, toys and funny faces to ease their fears.
If taking your child for the scheduled vaccinations leaves them (and you) in an anxious panic, you might want to take note of this research out of the UK.
Researchers in Liverpool, England have found that the answer to your child's needle phobia might be listening to the sounds of nature.
Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool has been running a project focused on relieving fear and anxiety in people who are afraid of needles, the UK's Daily Telegraph reported.
The researchers found that playing bird song recordings to children before they faced the injection made them less anxious.
The calming nature sounds are believed to affect the parts of the brain involved in emotional reactions and also act as a distraction for patients. The project was funded by the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (FACT) and was put together by Chris Watson, a sound recordist with world-renowned naturalist David Attenborough.
"We have seen tangible benefits for patients in bringing the natural world into hospitals. In the children's wards the play therapists use the birdsong as a distraction technique and to relax the youngsters before they have surgery," artistic program director for FACT, Lauren Sillers, said in a media statement.
"We also installed it in the corridors and there have been numerous requests for the bird song chorus to be reproduced on CD, which patients then play at home."
Watson and children from Alder Hey Hospital spent several days in Liverpool's Springfield Park recording the morning chorus of native birds, as well as rain and wind.
