Preventing Medical Trauma in Children Through Medical Play and Preparation
How trauma-informed preparation and play can help children feel safe before, during, and after medical care.
When Medical Experiences Leave Emotional Scars
If you’ve ever watched your child undergo a medical procedure, you know the feeling in your own body — the racing heart, the urge to protect, the helplessness when you can’t make it stop. Even when everyone in the room is focused on physical safety, the emotional impact can linger.
That lasting imprint — the fear, confusion, or shutdown that sometimes follows medical experiences — is what we call medical trauma. For years, most families were never told it existed, much less how to prevent it.
What My Research Revealed About Medical Trauma
During my Master of Social Work program, I focused my graduate study on childhood medical trauma and how to support parents through it. What emerged was clear: parents play a pivotal role in helping their child’s nervous system feel safe, but they often aren’t given the tools or guidance they need.
From that research, I created a Parent Handbook that outlines how to support your child before, during, and after medical procedures. It includes developmentally appropriate preparation and somatic-informed practices that help both parent and child regulate through the experience.
This handbook later became the foundation of my work at Medical Trauma Support and in the Befriend Your Body Community — where we help people restore safety and connection after medical experiences.
Why Preparation and Play Matter
In a recent episode of the Medical Trauma Support Podcast, I spoke with Mary Jenner, pediatric nurse and founder of The Butterfly Pig. Her company creates medically inclusive toys designed to help children understand medical care through hands-on play.
Mary saw firsthand that when children can see and touch toy versions of medical tools, their fear drops dramatically.
“When kids can interact with a toy IV or nebulizer, they start to understand what’s going to happen. It helps them feel less scared because it’s no longer a mystery.”
A 2023 study confirmed this: children who played with a toy nebulizer before treatment showed reduced fear and anxiety, while those who didn’t became more anxious afterward. Preparation and play calm the nervous system by replacing uncertainty with familiarity and choice — two key ingredients in trauma prevention.
Representation Heals, Too
The Butterfly Pig began with Mary sculpting clay medical devices for dolls — hearing aids, G-tubes, cochlear implants — and evolved into a movement for representation and emotional safety. When children see their own medical experiences reflected in play, it normalizes difference and restores dignity.
“These are the toys I wished I had at the bedside as a nurse,” Mary shared.
Representation tells a child: your body is not broken; it’s beautifully yours.
Supporting the Whole Family
Medical trauma rarely happens in isolation. When one child is in medical care, the entire family’s nervous system is affected. Mary described how her older daughter recognized a CPAP from their toys when visiting her newborn sister in the NICU — and instead of fear, she felt curiosity.
That small moment shows how preparation benefits siblings, too. When everyone understands what’s happening, there’s less anxiety all around.
What Parents Can Do — Informed by Research and Practice
Before: Prepare Through Play and Regulation
Use dolls, toy kits, or inclusive medical toys to show what will happen.
Keep explanations truthful and simple — honesty is important for relationship safety.
Include somatic co-regulation: slow your own breathing, model grounding, and invite your child to take deep breaths with you.
During: Create Safety in Real Time
Ask for a child life specialist to help or use your own comfort positioning instead of restraint.
Request pain-reducing tools like a cold spray, Buzzy Bee, or numbing cream.
If things feel chaotic, use Mary Jenner’s suggestion and advocate for a pause — a shared breath gives everyone a moment to reset.
After: Support the Nervous System’s Integration
Move slowly, allow plenty of rest time and connect with your child.
Encourage play or drawing about what happened; this helps discharge stress energy.
Name and validate emotions: “That was scary — and you did it.”
Practice gentle touch, movement, or humming together to bring the body back to calm.
These are the same evidence-based, somatically informed steps I developed in my parent handbook — and they continue to guide the families I work with today.
The Science of Emotional Safety
Medical play and nervous-system awareness aren’t “extras.” They’re core to trauma-informed pediatric care. When children are given time, information, and agency, their bodies can often stay within a window of safety instead of tipping into fear or freeze.
Each small act of preparation builds capacity — for both the child and the parent — to stay connected and resilient through medical experiences.
Bringing It All Together
We may not be able to prevent every medical trauma, but we can absolutely minimize the emotional impact. Through developmentally appropriate preparation, representation, and somatic-based support, parents and providers can help children feel safe in their bodies — even in hospitals and clinics.
“We can’t prevent every trauma,” Mary said, “but we can reduce the fear and anxiety that come with medical experiences — and that makes a world of difference.”
Resources and Next Steps
Explore The Butterfly Pig’s inclusive medical toys and Playful Prescriptions app for creative medical play ideas.
Download my free Parent Handbook: Your Child’s Medical Journey: A Trauma-Informed Parent Handbook. It offers practical guidance and tools to help your child feel safe — before, during, and after medical procedures. This guide is grounded in research and somatic practice.
Join the Befriend Your Body Community for ongoing compassionate support and nervous-system healing after medical experiences.
Together, we can change how children experience healthcare — one safe, prepared moment at a time.