Medical Trauma in Children

It can be heartbreaking to know that your child has experienced medical trauma and challenging to manage the symptoms of medical trauma in your child. I have the lived experience of parenting a child who experienced medical trauma at an early age and was showing trauma symptoms anytime we went to see a doctor, dentist or anyone that seemed related to the medical system. We were seeing medical trauma symptoms outside of medical appointments as well with delayed potty training and extreme fear of bandaids. My own experiences as a parent of a child who experienced medical trauma as well as my trauma from that experience is what brought me to study medical trauma in my graduate social work program and it is why I started Medical Trauma Support. I have been able to use what I have learned over the years to help other caregivers when they are in medical situations with their children and I’ve even used it to minimize (and hopefully prevent) medical trauma for another one of my children.

For years people believed that kids were resilient (that part is true) but they felt that children could bounce back from anything, they also believed that babies didn’t feel pain and that they wouldn’t remember anything that happened to them. We know now that is far from the truth and what happens to us during early development has a profound impact on us. Bruce Perry’s work has show us much about the impact of trauma on developing nervous systems. While this information can be upsetting, the good news is that we can do things to help our children recover and heal from medical trauma.

One of the most impactful things we can do as caregivers is to offer co-regulation and attuned compassion to our children. To do this, we need to be able to regulate our own nervous systems which is incredibly challenging when you are scared about your child’s medical diagnosis or upcoming procedure. There are many factors to being regulated such as social support and strong long term coping strategies, but some of the most simple and immediate things to do are somatic practices. Please reach out for a caregiver support session where we will create a plan for you and your child. I will teach you simple practices such as breathing, tapping and movement, that will support you so that you can better show up for and support your child.

Medical trauma in children is more common than most people realize and while it is incredibly challenging, we can do things to heal both ourselves and our children.