Topics Discussed This Month
dreams of the NICU.... do they remember?
Continued from page 3
Andrea wonders, (cont.) "... Xavier would also have what I considered "night terrors" for about the first 1.5 years. He'd be sleeping very peacefully, and wake up suddenly screaming and shaking, like he was really scared. I didn't get the "night terrors" as a diagnosis from a specialist, but our doctor did state that something may have triggered a sensation from a negative experience he had, to scare him. (Gee, I wonder which negative sensation he had during his 4-months in the NICU). The doctors at the hospital also warned us that when we first got him home, he'd probably be scared due to the quietness of our house, versus the noisiness of the NICU environment. Makes sense, since that is the only "home" he'd known since birth.
Since babies don't think in words, I really believe that sensations may stimulate feelings they may have had, because they were "conditioned" to think certain things went together. It's been awhile since I've had experimental, developmental, cognitive, or any other psych classes, so maybe I'm off base."

Carissa adds, "I think babies' "smarts" tend to be underestimated. I'm sure some medical people would tell me that preemies have no memory of their time spent in NICU. But even at that pre-term age, they can feel pain, cold, pleasure, warmth, they sense. So who's to say they wouldn't remember these feelings?"

Suzanne remebers, "John Henry seems to have a few memories of the nicu. Once when he was about 6 months old we gave him a large mostly clear plastic blowup ball. He freaked out the moment he saw it. It was an unusual reaction for him. I think it looked like the oxygen tent he was under for so long, it was used to keep him warm. When he was around 18 months old, we were in a parking lot and someone's car door *dinged* from being open. JH almost jumped out of his skin and looked terrified. I recognized the sound right away, it sounded exactly like the med pumps when it was time to change the bags. It wasn't a scary sound at all, so I am sure there is a memory attached to it by JH's frightened reaction...
John Henry apparently also has pleasant memories of the nicu. He likes women that look like his favorite nurses. One of the mom's in his preschool class looks very much like his primary nurse. He has really attached himself to her, he often wants to sit in her lap...
John Henry really likes adults. I thought he wouldn't after being poked and prodded so much by them in the nicu, but he loves adults."

Suzie writes, "...Last week, Nolin brought home one of his paintings from preschool. The teachers had titled it "Nolin's Pet Monster." There was this yellow owl-looking thing with big eyes, no neck, and no visible arms or legs. We asked Nolin why he painted a monster, and he said it was what he wanted to paint. We also asked why he painted in yellow, and he said that was the color he wanted to use. The creepy thing is that all the doctors, nurses, and parents in Nolin's NICU wore YELLOW scrub gowns when they visited the babies. I know everyone says that newborns can only see in black and white, but this is quite a coincidence. "Nolin's Pet Monster" looks amazingly like a big-eyed doctor/nurse/parent in a yellow scrub gown bending over his little preemie bed while he lays there helpless."
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