Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Over-Stimulation

Poor Davie.  Her dumb mother has subjected her to stimuli that her little nervous system is not ready to handle.  Last night, we went to the OKC Thunder game ... with a 7 week old.  It was SO outrageously loud.  She didn't act like it bothered her then, and actually I had her asleep in a sling most of the time.  But when she woke up at home, she was VERY upset.  We tried everything - feeding, changing, pacifying.  She was so mad she wouldn't even let a pacifier past her lips.  Finally, I swaddled her up tight and we turned out all the lights in her room and rocked while I shushed her.  She calmed down enough to take a pacifier, and then after that she was good.  Whew.  

Today I took her to school so I could get some stuff to plan for next week.  We stayed in the teacher's lounge during lunch.  My 4th grade team is laidback and calm, so no big deal.  The 5th grade teachers are loud and boisterous and I think she became over-stimulated again, because tonight she was again inconsolable.  

It's important to remember that babies DO have immature nervous systems, and therefore need us to shield them from getting over-stimulated or over-tired.  We have to look for "cues" that tell us they are getting tired, and then get them to a quiet place where they can rest.  

I looked up techniques for soothing a baby that is over-tired.  I found a website/book/DVD called "The Happiest Baby on the Block".  The dude (Dr. Karp) talks about 5 S's: 1) swaddling (tightly with arms down by their sides), 2) shushing (louder than their crying, or use some kind of white noise), 3) side (lay them on their side or tummy . . . I prefer us being tummy to tummy with her on her side), 4) swinging (or some kind of rhythmic motion), 5) sucking (pacifier, finger, bottle, or breast).  

Most of these I tried before reading this out of instinct (or desperation).  I'm checking out the DVD and the book from the library, so I'll be writing about that soon.  Hopefully though, I can just avoid the whole over-stimulation thing and look for signs that she is getting tired, and skip this whole frantic soothing thing next time.  


2 comments:

con5607 said...

That is a good book. I read it when Caleb was about Davie's age too. Swaying and swaddling were particularly helpful for us.
-elizabeth finke scholes

Kevin and Megan said...

i like your mommy posts. I started reading Babywise, in the middle of the first chapter I put the book down and announced to Kevin that once Gabe comes I want to make sure that we're still husband and wife and not just mom and dad. He then said, "whatever your reading, you need to stop." but I haven't.

Davie should be getting excited. her betrothed will be here in t-minus 14 weeks.