I'm not expecting advice or answers really, so I suppose this is just a rant.
I took 16 month old DD to a music for babies thing at the library today. Sometimes when she has had a lot of stimulation she'll want to nurse to calm down, so when it was over and others were packing up to go, we were nursing in our little spot on the floor. DD had her eyes closed and was contentedly nursing in mamas arms when a 2 year old came and whacked her =hard= in the head with a maraca.
She screamed and wept while I tried to comfort her, and eventually she started nursing again, with those little aftershocks, like hiccups, shaking her little body. She was so upset.
And now I can't get it out of my head. Nursing is the time she's supposed to know that all is right in the world. She's safe in mamas arms. And she didn't see the child, so to her she was just nursing then -WHACK!
It makes me sick to think that she might not feel safe now when we're nursing. I keep hearing the sound of the maraca hitting her head and seeing her red face wailing at me. Did she think it was me? And if not why didn't I prevent it?
We're home now and she's sleeping but I'm heartbroken.
I took 16 month old DD to a music for babies thing at the library today. Sometimes when she has had a lot of stimulation she'll want to nurse to calm down, so when it was over and others were packing up to go, we were nursing in our little spot on the floor. DD had her eyes closed and was contentedly nursing in mamas arms when a 2 year old came and whacked her =hard= in the head with a maraca.
She screamed and wept while I tried to comfort her, and eventually she started nursing again, with those little aftershocks, like hiccups, shaking her little body. She was so upset.
And now I can't get it out of my head. Nursing is the time she's supposed to know that all is right in the world. She's safe in mamas arms. And she didn't see the child, so to her she was just nursing then -WHACK!
It makes me sick to think that she might not feel safe now when we're nursing. I keep hearing the sound of the maraca hitting her head and seeing her red face wailing at me. Did she think it was me? And if not why didn't I prevent it?
We're home now and she's sleeping but I'm heartbroken.
Odds are she will forget about it long before you will.
Even babies know that something happening ONCE is a fluke. If she was frequently whacked while nursing, absolutely, that's a different story. Even if she is tense for a couple of days, she'll relax again.
