What type of shot hurts the most

Placement of the vaccine can also impact which shots hurt most. Shots given in muscles — like the deltoid in the upper arm where flu shots are usually given — tend to be more painful than ones that aren't injected into the muscle, Stewart said.

And, when you get a muscular injection, that needle is a little bit bigger, too. Unfortunately, the pain associated with a vaccine can continue for a little while after the injection itself.

Stewart said pain should go away within two or three days and recommends taking aspirin or ibuprofen and applying ice and a warm compress to alleviate pain and inflammation. If pain continues after four or five days or there is swelling near the injection site, Stewart urges patients to call their doctor. The soreness is related to the goal of immunizations, which is to incite an immune response.

So, the soreness or pain you feel in the days after a shot is your body building up a response that can protect you in the future. According to Popular Science, this immune response may cause inflammation, which, as they put it, is your body "rushing to try to save itself. Some folks, even kids, cry when they get their shots; some are troopers. Even myself, I just have to look away when I get shots.

If I look, I end up thinking it's going to hurt a lot more than it does. So, definitely, some people are more susceptible. While the pain associated with getting a shot is often mind over matter, Dr. Having your child sit on your lap during an injection can provide comfort, says Jen Elliott, R. If your child is too young to sit still, work your arm over her arm or leg to stabilize it for the injection—but gently, without pressing so hard that she feels restrained.

Soothe younger ones with sweetness. Young babies can be breastfed through an immunization, because the sucking and sweetness of the milk are comforting, Elliott says. Older babies or toddlers who are no longer breastfeeding may benefit by having something sweet drizzled on their tongue. Dilute a packet of sugar in a few teaspoons of water and drip a little on just before the shot is administered, Taddio advises. However, such sweet solutions weren't shown to be effective in relieving vaccine pain for school-age children, a review concluded.

For multiple shots, pay attention to the order. Depending on their chemical composition, some vaccines simply hurt more than others. If you or your child are getting several shots in one office visit, ask to receive them in the order of least-to-most painful, Taddio advises. Consider OTC meds after a shot.

Taking an over-the-counter pain reliever such as acetaminophen Tylenol and generic or ibuprofen Aleve, Motrin IB, and generic won't prevent the sting of a shot, says Marvin M. Lipman, M. A cool wet washcloth placed on the spot may help, too. For a needle phobia that actually prevents you or your child from getting vaccinated, consider several sessions of exposure therapy , which is designed to help people confront their fears, with a cognitive behavioral therapist.

A review by Canadian and British researchers, including Taddio, found that exposure-based psychological interventions are helpful for reducing needle fears. Meryl Davids Landau is a health and fitness freelancer in South Florida. She loves to do yoga the topic of her debut novel, "Downward Dog, Upward Fog" and mentor kids, now that her own two are grown. But giving only this tiny, weakened, or dead part of the germ does not give you the disease. Instead, just the opposite happens.

Your body responds to the vaccine by making antibodies. These antibodies are part of your immune system , and they can fight the disease if you ever come in contact with that nasty germ.

When your body is protected from a disease in this way, it's called being immune to an illness. In most cases, it means you won't get the illness at all. But sometimes, you can still get a mild case of the illness.

This can happen with chickenpox. Even kids who get the shot to prevent chickenpox can still get a case of it. The good news is that they usually don't get a very bad case of it. Milder cases mean fewer spots and less itching. Shots are given by injection with a needle. A syringe say: seh-RINJ holds the liquid vaccine, and the needle has a hole in it for the liquid to squirt through.

Shots are usually given in your arm or sometimes your thigh. The good news is that kids get a lot of the shots they need by age 2. So if you're old enough to read this article, you've already had most of your shots!

After that, a kid doesn't need many more. Kids get a few shots when they're between 4 and 6 years old.