Dr. Zibners.com

How to know if your child's illness or injury is really an emergency

articles

Zoe’s Headache

Despite the fact that both of my children have gone flying down our staircase at some point in the last 6 months, most of you should realize that I’m a bit of a nut job when it comes to safety. I’ve done my best to make our home as safe as possible, even to the point of having a new shelf built at the very top of our downstairs closet so I could move all the cleaning products out of even my own reach. And then you should have seen my face last week when I caught one of the girls with a whole grape. Let’s just say my husband won’t be doing that again any time soon.

However, I have recently been informed by my almost 2-year old that it is time for me to loosen up. And she told me in no uncertain terms. And at 3 o’clock in the morning.
Background: Babies should never sleep with blankets or pillows or toys or bumpers or anything else that could possibly cause suffocation in the night. I think this is a good rule. A suffocated baby is a bad idea. So I followed it. Religiously.

That said, Eva is 2 and Zoe is turning 2 in a couple weeks. And over the last year I have very gradually started to give in to stuffed animals making their way into the cribs, first tiny little bunnies and now 18 inch Big Birds. In fact, at last count I believe there were 2 rabbits, one Cookie Monster, one Big Bird, 2 pink snakes, 2 Gymboree Gymbos, 4 books, 2 sippy cups of water, and two small blankets in their beds, collectively.

But do you see what was missing? Honestly it didn’t even dawn on me. Until Tuesday night.

She started at 2:30 in the morning. I went trudging down 2 flights of stairs in response to the “Mommy, Mommy!” coming across the monitor. Binky back in mouth, blankie tucked under her arm, back upstairs I went. Repeat the scene 15 minutes later. Now if you are counting you realize that is already 8 flights of stairs I’ve climbed. Normally she sleeps through the night. Or else I would permanently live downstairs.

So on the 3rd call, I enacted the “three strikes” rule and took my pillow with me. Because I’d be spending the rest of the night in the guest room, which sits next to the girls but lacks the same high quality head support I keep in my own bed.

I went into their room and tried to lie Zoe back down. She began sobbing violently and pointed. “I need pillow.”

“What?” I said, “You need my pillow?”

“I…sob…need…sob…pillow,” she wailed.

I gave her my pillow. She lay down and went promptly to sleep. I saw her again at 7:15.

And I now understand. Babies get no pillows. Two year-olds need them. Duh.

Dr. Lara Zibners, Jan 12, 2012

• Permanent Link »
• 51 Comments »

Page 1 of 1 pages