baby´s temper

[mariajose]

Hi!

I have a question to the members regarding premature babies that had spent time in NICUs and their occasional bad tempers.

It just happens that my baby expresses every so often, his needs "very strongly". (such as hunger, specially...)

This may sound superficial but I heard that these babies have speical tempres and are somehow more aware of life than full term babies.

Any comments?

María José 31
Julián: 29/08/03 -31 1/2 weeks due to Severe PE and HELLP

[jarnett]

I do know that my son was in the NICU for 8 weeks and he is very impatient as far as waiting for me to fix a bottle or if his diaper is dirty, he has a low tolerence for waiting to be satisfied for sure. Other than that, he really isn't too awfully fussy anymore. He started out that way, but I think a lot of it was attributed to the need to adjust his Zantac prescription and that he was genuinely uncomfortable.

Jen

[season]

It's not necessarily that preemies have a temper, but that they have sensory issues and thus may upset more easily. Since they are early preemies still need to devope their central nervous system, and while it's underdeveloped it can make them touchier, not to mention that many go on to have long term sensory issues. It's very easy to overstimulate a FT infant, and even easier to do so to a preemie, especially one who was used to a specific environment (defined by the NICU, esp those with a longer stay.)

The odd thing though is that this is not always easy to see. My ds 34 weeker, seemed quite happy in highly stimulating environments, but he often fell apart afterward. I think now that he had too much stimuli and then when it was taken away he couldn't decompress well.

SueAnn
dh Kwame
ds Ezekiel 1/2/02 (34wks due to pre-e)
#2 EDD 7/6/04