Stress Awareness Month: Is Your Toddler Suffering Anxiety? How To Know When Kid Can’t Yet Speak

April is celebrated as Stress Awareness Month to spread information and destigmatise mental health problems. Stress can harm us in various ways, and it can have an effect across ages. Adults, kids and elders can be affected by it.

While older people can speak, vent it out or find a way to cope with the stress, it is difficult for toddlers to manage it. We spoke to Dr R Kishore Kumar, Neonatologist and Paediatrician, and Dr Lakshmy Menon, Consultant Neonatologist and Paediatrician, at Cloudnine Group of Hospitals, to understand it.

What Causes Stress To Babies Or Toddlers?

Dr Menon said that most paediatric OPDs are designed in a way that their environment can soothe toddlers unless they are getting vaccinated or seriously ill. However, she has noticed that in the last six to eight months more and more irritated parents are complaining about terrible tantrums their kids have been throwing along with screaming episodes.

“Babies are unable to sleep, cry a lot and refuse food. It convinces parents that something is fishy with their child. However, physical examinations show no sign of illness,” added Dr Menon. The real reason is stress.

Dr Kumar said if toddlers are exposed to a stressful situation by their caregivers, the anxiety can take many forms. It can affect their mental, physical and emotional development and leave parents to deal with long-term consequences. “Generally in families with domestic violence or emotional volatility of the caregivers – predominantly mothers – the baby’s development can be affected. ”

Signs Of Stress Among Toddlers

Dr Menon pointed out that toddlers can perceive stress as adults can. It could be a reaction to a change in environment, an illness or a break in routine.

Separation from caregivers, death in a family or arrival of a sibling can also stress a toddler. Since many toddlers cannot express themselves in words, they communicate via behavioural patterns.

Dr Kumar said symptoms of stress (how to manage stress through the day) are:

• Bedwetting
• Nightmares
• Change in sleep and eating patterns
• Physical issues like stomach aches
• Increase in tantrums

Signs Of A Stressed Baby

Both experts said stress among babies when takes physical form can looks like this:

• Reluctant to feed
• Exhibit a lack of visual contact
• Refuse to sleep
• Become more temperamental
• Regress on milestones
• Frown
• Squirm
• Look away or not smile
• Arms and legs pushing away
• Frantic or disorganised activity

It has been observed that infants have their own soothing mechanisms. Non-nutritive sucking or hand-to-mouth movements are among the few ways they calm themselves.

Dr Menon pointed out that stressful pregnancies (pregnancy cravings) lead to preterm deliveries. Foetuses that grow in a stressful environment often show altered behaviour as toddlers.

Dr Kumar said it is difficult to diagnose stress among toddlers because at this age most of them behave a little erratically. However, if the doctor is sure, they would take a deep dive into the family history to identify the root cause.

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Stress Management Tips For Baby Or Toddler

Dr Menon advised to be watchful of the behaviour that your toddler is exhibiting, then take steps to help them. Here is how to pacify a stressed toddler:

• Tune in to signs of early stress
• Respond with utmost love, affection and care
• Promote healthy habits like early sleeping or taking them out for playing
• Teach them about abdominal breathing (hands on the abdomen and five seconds each to inhale from the nose and exhale from the mouth)
• Teach them coping skills like taking deep breaths or listening to music

If you have a bigger child who seems stressed, the doctor would confirm the diagnosis and accordingly prescribe the course of treatment. For more such stories, stay tuned to HerZindagi.