Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Swaddling
Despite having graduated from toddler to preschooler, Sergeant still has the occasional meltdown when she doesn't get her way. They usually involve yelling, crying, screaming, and a combination of hitting me and telling me to get away, but at the same time, wanting me near. Over the months, I've tried many tactics to stop the madness, including holding her and rocking her, but nothing has been very successful. Then, a few days ago, in the midst of a meltdown, I laid Sergeant down on a fleece blanket and swaddled her like an infant. She stopped instantly. I sat in the rocking chair with her for a few minutes and cuddled her, then we discussed the issue at hand and worked it out peacefully. Since then, I've tried it twice more with the same results. It makes me wonder if some of her meltdowns are attachment-related instead of just three-year-old stinker-related.
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2 comments:
You might try a weighted vest or blanket....they are expensive to buy, but you can probably make one fairly inexpensively.
I am wondering if the meltdowns are to do with the divorce, not neccessarily attachment issues (adoption-attachment, I mean). Perhaps she is feeling insecure or rattled, and is reverting to behaviors of the past.
Lil Pumpkin got REALLY irrational and meltdown-y about 4 weeks after her open heart surgery. We knew it wasn't attachment issues, but we contacted the social worker (specializing in adoptions) that is attached to our pediatrician's practice. She believed it to be that LP was having some sort of post-traumatic stress related to her surgery, and that LP just didn't have another way to vocalize her stress/worries/confusion to us, hence reverting backwards to behaviors she previously knew. Social Worker advised us to re-employ our attachment techniques, and come up with a short "Script" explaining her surgery, how she was better, and that everything would be okay, and that she could ask us questions anytime she wanted to. This REALLY helped!
So, I guess my thought is maybe do some "yes" and "no" questions to see if you can isolate why your little one is acting out, which might help you find a solution. But I am glad the swaddling (baby-care behavior) is helping her feel calmed and secure.
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