Had an interesting phone call today from the mom of four, including a 7
month old . She said that after sleeping 5-6 hours nightly for several
months, for the past week, the baby has been waking up almost hourly
nearly every night, and seems suddenly to be "on her, 24/7" and "driving
her nuts". Far be it from me to minimize how stressed a busy mom may
feel!

The weather here has been down in the single digits F. at night much of
this week. There is a saying about Ohio weather. "If you don't like it,
wait ten minutes." (I am acutely aware of what that has been doing to
inside temperatures here in the last week despite storm windows and
insulation, because my furnace gave up, and I had to get another
installed.)

So I suggested she feel his fingertips and see if they felt cold, and
explained that even a 7 month old can still lose a lot of heat through
his soft spot, and that in animal studies, they had put a scope in to
watch the lining of the stomach grow pale when the animal was subjected
to cold stress, because nature tries to send the circulation to heart,
lungs and other vital organs under cold stress, and that digestion,
fingers, toes, tip of nose, etc. weren't "vital" enough to qualify.

Suddenly, she remembered that one night this week, it was "half-way warm"
outside, (by comparison to the rest of the week) and that night, their
house felt rather toasty, and that is the only night he slept for 5 hours
straight. She had noticed his little nose being cold against her, fingers
too, etc. but didn't have the information to connect all of these
observations till I explained cold stress to her. I suggested she might
want to see if his hospital stocking cap would still fit, and perhaps put
some socks on his little hands when the outside weather made the inside
drafty or chilly, and to see if that would help.

Thought I'd share in case this homespun hint might be pertinent to anyone
else's experience. This also comes into play in summer when I see many
young babies in air conditioned stores with bare feet, no blanket, cap or
bonnet, etc. fussing away in their car seats in the grocery cart,
fingertips and toes pale, and parents completely clueless about cold
stress and the effect on digestion. Kangaroo care and slings help with
this problem of course, but they're not the only way the baby's
discomfort can be relieved.

Jean
************
K. Jean Cotterman RNC, IBCLC
Dayton, Ohio USA

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