Kiddipedia
The holiday period is a time filled with family gatherings, events and perhaps even a family holiday. We all usually spend time with a lot more people at a time than we normally do. For an adult or child, this is an exciting time that we look forward to and enjoy the experiences and added excitement. But what about when you have a baby? If this is your little one’s first holidays I bet you have family who may not have met them or are looking forward to getting to spend more time with your little one – they may, in fact, the centre of attention for all those aunts and uncles, cousins, grandparents etc who are coming together.
For your baby it is an entirely new experience and one that is possibly overwhelming and hard to deal with. Babies’ brains and nervous systems aren’t fully developed so they process stimuli differently to us. They haven’t quite learned how to process all the new stimuli that comes with the outside world. When your baby meets a new person they use all of their senses to meet them. They will smell them to see if that’s the smell of mum or dad. They will use sight to see if this is someone they recognise. They will listen to see if this a familiar sounding voice and they may even reach out and process what they feel with touch.
Babies’ brains get overwhelmed with all this new sensory stimuli and it can be exhausting! Imagine then that your little one is passed from family member to family member who are all craving the gorgeous baby snuggles. With each person, your little one begins again processing all these senses for each loving family member. All this stimuli is overwhelming for such a little person and what results is sensory overload. There is simply more than they can process. This can happen in a lot of situations but the holidays is where I see it most.
When your little one becomes overstimulated they release the hormone cortisol – our ‘fight or flight’ hormone. Many babies will cry, clench their fists, wave their arms or kick. Others will simply shut down as it is too much and they may fall asleep. If they are the second case then you may not realise they are overstimulated at all. It may not be until later when they are unsettled and you simply can’t get them to go down for a sleep or even calm at all. This may reflect what many call a witching hour or good old fashioned colic. A lot of the time what people call colic is actually overstimulation. This is why many people will call what we see in the holidays as ‘Christmas Colic’. This is simply a baby who displays those colic type symptoms as a result of meeting and being handed around to other people so much, receiving too much outside stimulation and a rush of cortisol.
The holidays may be an exciting time for everyone with your gorgeous new addition but there is no need to feel pressured to pass them to everyone for a snuggle. Think about your little one and the unsettling that may follow and be overwhelming for them. There is nothing wrong with putting your bub first and telling your favourite aunt or cousins that now may not be a good time for a snuggle. Perhaps just think of one or 2 family members who this may mean the most to like a grandmother or great grandmother who may not get a chance to see them another time. Trust me the hours of screaming and trying to settle an overstimulated baby is not worth it! I have seen so many families wish they had kept their bub close and kept things more calm for them
Travelling or family holidays can also be hard on a baby but there are ways to make it easier for them here too. If you are going away this holiday period consider the ways you can keep things consistent for your little one. Take their usual bedding so they have the familiar smell of home. If they will be in a port-a-cot then try it at home first to get them used to it so it’s not a shock when they are put for the first time in an unfamiliar place. Take simple steps to black out the room so they have that consistency from home. Even when doing sleeps out and about in the pram, follow the same steps before a sleep as you do normally with their sleeping bag or wrap etc.
You may want to enjoy a dinner out here and there. Depending on the age of your baby you may choose to let them sleep longer in the afternoon so they can stay up a bit later and have some finger food while you eat. Or you may choose to pop them down in the pram while out or in their port-a-cot at someones house. This usually works well and I often recommend to clients to time heading home with the dreamfeed so you can feed your little one and pop them to bed around they time they are used to being fed. This isn’t so disruptive and fits in with your little one’s sleep cycles.
There is no need to not live your life and enjoy the holidays as a family when you have a baby but there are some things to consider to make it easier and more familiar and settled for your little one. After all the effects of that big day may be minor for an adult but may last many days to come for a little person.
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