Building friendships through support groups - Part 8
My child is so often inconsolable.
This conversation is really touching on one of Nicholas’s core problems, so I jump right in. “Did these behaviors begin when your children were babies? I’ll tell you why I ask. Nicholas was difficult beginning the day he was born. My baby never slept and he always cried. I am not exaggerating. He ALWAYS cried. He seemed joyless, despite our attempts to entertain or comfort him. True, he would easily fall asleep, but he never stayed asleep long. He’s five now and anxieties and night terrors still plague him. On most days he awakens before dawn, looking to me for comfort. Years of sleep deprivation and exhaustion have made me less resilient and have taken their toll both physically and mentally. They no doubt have also taken a toll on Nicholas.”
“Not all our children were difficult from birth,” says Joan, “but I believe that most of them showed some problems early on. On the very day we brought Neil home, I had the uneasy feeling that something was not right. Those blissful first days in the hospital turned into a hellish nightmare of exhaustion and panic at our inability to soothe and quite our fragile baby. For months we would awaken to Neil’s gut wrenching cries that persisted for hours without any logical explanation. His piercing screams sounded like he was in excruciating pain but no doctor was able to identify why. My God, how we paced the floor for hours, nerves frazzled, emotions spent. We were in a perpetual state of crisis.”
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