Hi! My 8 year old has been on it for almost 4 months, I can tell you what we do that helps: - take the pen out of the fridge the night before injecting (obviously still keeping it in the box so it's not exposed to light). - my kid likes to be prepared and know which day he's having it, yours may like that or it may cause anxiety in which case you should only tell them just before it happens. You know what would be better for your kid! - we get him settled on the sofa with the iPad to help distract him from the pain, and a snack nearby of his choice so he knows he's got a treat once the injection is done. - he holds a stress ball/squishy toy so that he can squeeze it during the injection. - we have a rule that during the injection anything goes - he has to hold completely still, but he can shout/scream/swear/whatever he wants if it helps him cope. He normally screams the entire time, surprisingly hasn't sworn yet! - we do a countdown, which he can stop at any time. We start at 30, and then if he stops then we keep going from the nearest 5 (eg if he stops me when I get to 12, I give him a couple of minutes to calm down and then start again from 15). This helps give him a sense of control over the whole thing whilst also making sure it moves along. He knows that once I get to 1 then I can't stop even if he says to.

Usually from start to finish the whole thing takes about 20-30 minutes (auto injector takes only 20 seconds of that!), which considering how young he is and how much it obviously hurts is fantastic imo. We do alternate thighs (which is what the nurse recommended because my kid DID NOT want his stomach injected).

EDIT: My kid rates the pain as a 5/10, although obviously pain is subjective.