I don't think I've ever posted about this issue before but now it seems to be time. Since Olivia was 6 months old she has held her breath and arched her back.
This is not in refusal to sit in the seat. She loves the car and the seat and will choose to sit in something that will allow her to arch her back. Back then she was only doing it in her car seat and the doctor told me not to worry. He said that she would grow out of it. She just turned three and not only has she not grown out of it but it has become worse.
Olivia slowly began doing it in her high chair too. It wasn't every day or every time she sat in it at first but it evolved into that. So I put her in a boost seat at the table and she stopped doing it..for a while. Then she started leaning back and straining again so I removed the back off the booster seat. Again she stopped doing it while in the booster seat but she still continued doing it in the car every time we went any where. Now she sits at a small picnic table and she doesn't do it at all while eating but she will do it in the car, in the stroller, the bucket swing, or in shopping carts. It has gotten to the point that other people notice it.
Again I brought it to her doctor's attention at her 3 year check up. This time he gave me a number to call which has lead us to an appointment with a specialist in December. All though I am really glad someone is finally going to help us understand why she does this and how to help her, I am faced with the reality that something is wrong. I always knew something was wrong, but now it's more real I guess. The good news is that this issue she has is not causing her any pain, it isn't affecting her when she's playing or busy, and it seems to be isolated to places that she has to wear a safety belt. The bad news is that she will have to wear a seat belt forever so I don't have any idea how to change her
environment in that capacity. My other fear is that when she's in first grade and she has to sit in a desk all day will she be doing this and not learning anything?
So I started to panic about visiting the doctor and the "what
if's" that follow...what if she has
epilepsy or... so I called my
BFF who has seen a bunch of specialists for her son when he wasn't gaining weight. I always teased her with, "man if I had to do all the things you've done with the therapies or all the doctor visits and possible
diagnosises which BTW he is perfectly fine and normal I'd freak out. I don't know how you do it." So she called me back and gave me her one perfect piece of advice, "whatever the doctor says...your kid is still the same kid you brought to the doctor's office an hour ago." And she's right. Olivia is still my Miss Olivia regardless of what they say and it may be nothing. She may be car sick, she may not like the feeling of being restrained in the car seat or it may just make her feel good to arch her back and hold her breath. Any which way she's still my little love bug. I just want to be able to help her stop this behavior or leave her alone if that's what I'm supposed to do.
