My oldest memory is of the time I was playing in my garage and found an old ketchup packet. I tried to tear it open with my teeth, but the ketchup ended up squirting in my mouth. Not only did I get sick, but I also did not eat ketchup for the next sixteen years. I was four years old at the time. I am 34 now; a 30-year-old memory is pretty good in my opinion.
But this post isn’t about me. It’s about my daughter, Lily. She is sixteen months old, and what I want to know is:
Can Lily remember events that happened to her when she was less than one month old?
Three days after Lily was born, she had surgery to repair her esophagus. Of course, she was anesthetized and would have no waking memory of the actual operation. But is it possible that she remembers the recovery that followed?
For about a week, the doctors in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) put Lily on a slow, near continuous, morphine drip. They even told us that she was in a lot of pain. It was very sad to witness. So long as she was receiving the full dose, she was very peaceful and still, but once a drip cycle neared completion, she would start to squirm (and would have thrashed had she not been restrained to prevent her from pulling out her various tubes and IVs) until the next dosage took effect.
My wife and I are curious as to what Lily may or my not remember, because Lily has difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep. First off, I am the one who has to hold her (my wife has tried but Lily cries until I take her back), and unless she is totally exhausted, it can take anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes.
I’ve babysat nieces and nephews who didn’t want to go to bed. However, eventually they all did. Lily will literally fight to keep her eyes from closing and has even went to the extreme of pulling her own hair in order to stay awake; and once asleep, she is very fitful. She moves around so much it is not uncommon to find her completely upside down with her head where her feet should be.
I guess the question my wife and I are asking is:
Can babies suffer from PTSD?
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