It amazes me that I can have a child come up to me asking for a drink of water and one look at the child tells me that what the child really needs is a pot to vomit in even though the child has been fine all day. I gave Patch both the water and the pot. Within ten minutes my instinct was proved correct. I’ve learned to listen to that inner voice which tells me these things. I can know that Gleek needs a quiet time, that Link needs to go to bed early, that Kiki’s emotional upset will be greatly alleviated by eating, that the neighbor’s child really needs to go potty now. This instinct is slowly gained over years of experience with children and my kids in particular. I know I did not start this parenting adventure with that instinctive voice. I was constantly stressed and mystified about whether something was a normal stage or cause for panic. Unfortunately for new-mom Sandra, the mother’s instinct can’t be learned from reading books. Instead I had to rely on the instinct of friends with more (or at lease different) experience than me. Today I am glad for knowledge born of accumulated experience, because I only had a pot to wash instead of a floor to mop.
6 thoughts on “Mother’s instinct”
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…that Kiki’s emotional upset will be greatly alleviated by eating…
Okay. I’m a bit of a hypochondriac and I project that onto other people, but I’m also very sensitive about the issues that I actually do have.
So I have a few questions, and I hope I’m not causing any unnecessary panic.
Does Kiki ever have dizzy spells or get especially lightheaded or shaky? Especially in the afternoon?
Does she ever complain of “pins and needles” in her fingers? If so, does this seem to coincide with moments of emotional distress OR with periods of particularly low energy?
Is she hungrier after she eats?
Does she seem fatigued virtually every day? (Again, especially in the afternoon?) Does she get especially “klutzy” during these moments, or seem unable to remember things that ought to be obvious?
If so, there is a possibility that she may have some blood sugar issues such as hypoglycemia. The next time she seems volatile, see if you can get her to drink some orange juice, eat an orange, or if you have to provide her with something less healthy like a candy bar, try that. If she seems to calm down within a few minutes, I would suggest that you might want to have her tested.
It’s not a fun test — they have to draw blood about four or five times, and if she really is hypoglycemic, she’ll be pretty lethargic and ataxic by the end of it. But it’s better to know.
Ironically, if she is hypoglycemic, her brain may have become “wired” for these symptoms, and the problems can actually be exacerbated for a while when dietary changes are initiated as treatment while the brain re-wires itself.
And, of course, it’s always possible that she’s not hypoglycemic, but that food provides a psychological (and potentially neurological — serotonin can generate while eating familiar foods) comfort.
Plus there’s always that wonderful x-factor that is adolescence. There’s no known cure for that. =)
hypoglycemia
How is hypoglycemia treated? My 6-year-old burns energy like crazy. When she gets tired, she doesn’t sit down and rest. Instead, she gets hyper-active and inattentive. Her 1st grade teacher and I worked out a system that my daughter can bring fruits to snack on during the day and we’ve seen HUGE improvements in my daughter’s ability to concentrate.
Kiki is not clinically hypoglycemic. Everyone gets cranky when they’ve gone all day on a single piece of toast and half a slice of pizza. This is particularly true for a child who is actively growing. She’s grown six inches in the last year.
The X factor has definitely played a part as well. 😉
Re: hypoglycemia
It varies from person to person. There’s no cure, per se, and most of the treatment is based on dietary changes. General rule of thumb: limit sugar, and have more (smaller) meals per day — five or six, typically. But that’s really best attempted under doctor’s guidance.
For me, most of my difficulty maintaining my blood sugar disappeared with a combination of factors: switching from regular to diet soda; minimizing my sugar intake (I used to eat a lot of candy bars); and just growing older to the point where adolescent hormonal issues weren’t working in tandem with my blood sugar to wreak havoc on my emotions (and consequently on everyone around me).
I really can’t speak for any six-year-old’s situation; my hypoglycemia didn’t manifest until puberty. So at the risk of sounding like a commercial: consult your doctor before starting any new program. 🙂
Yikes! Yeah, that little amount of food can give anyone temporarily low blood sugar. It’s something I’ve explained to a number of folks at work when I’ve noticed them getting logey after eating three or four donuts in the morning and then getting drowsy and cranky couple hours later: I’m clinically hypoglycemic, but anyone can have a hypoglycemic episode. I’ve actually told an employee to go get a juice from the company cafeteria, and within minutes he was fine.
Also: yikes!!! Six inches in a year?? Yeah, it’ll take a while for the body to figure out how to handle all the wacky internal chemical changes.