Re: preemie-l RE: Pain
Sheena L Carter (scart01@emory.edu)
Wed, 12 Jun 1996 17:44:56 -0400 (EDT)
On Wed, 12 Jun 1996, Tracy Peters wrote:
> Sara too is not a snuggler. It's only been in the past 6-8 months
> that she comes to me for any kind of comfort. Tough when they are
> upset or hurt and as parents we want to console. Sometimes I feel
> like she thinks, hey I had to get through worse than this on my own
> with no one to hold me so BACK OFF.
Tracy, Angie, et. al....
Now, let's not read too much into this! The OTs tell us that it
is altered sensitivity to touch that accounts for the resistance to close
contact, and there is some literature to suggest that very early exposure to
touch and painful stimuli may be at least partially responsible for this
phenomena. In addition to the early association of touch with painful
stimuli, the development of the nerves themselves may actually be
influenced by premature exposure to stimuli -- while the
infant should still be a fetus well-protected in the womb. (I believe
Anand has some work pertinent to this & I can ask him for some references
if people are interested.) A lot of children with early neurological damage
who were not born early also have hypo- or hyposensitivity -- as well as some
perfectly "normal" children, however. This is still a new field of study.
I think it is very important to understand and respect your own
child's particular touch preferences. One thing a lot of people find is
that their children prefer deep or firm pressure touch whereas they may
find light touch extremely uncomfortable. Some find that their children
are quite capable of close contact, including hugging and cuddling, if it
is child-initiated -- allowing them to control the timing and intensity.
Some parents have told me that their OT has been able to help with
therapy directly addressing the child's sensation. Experiment with what
works best for your child, but understand that it may not be what works
for others. And try to find ways to work around those problems you have
trouble getting past -- maybe accepting that the child doesn't find some
types of touch pleasurable and finding alternative ways of demonstrating
your caring feelings. Try not to take rejection of touch as rejection of
comforting or of you.
To my knowledge this has not been found to be related to any
emotional problems in preemies. The children I follow (only to age 5 at
most), as a group, strike me as quite resilient. While I have no data on
our kids, I don't see the volume of emotional and behavioral problems I
would expect given that so many children we serve are also at high
psychosocial risk for other reasons. While the "vulnerable child
syndrome" has received a lot of attention, I would be interested in
documentation of special strengths in these children. (Anyone have
references?)
Gotta go. Maybe we can discuss this more later. I'm sure I'm
not the only parent typing with one hand tonight, but this is
probably not how I should feed my baby!
Sheena