Up to age
one, infants look on everyone as a friend, so they’re a delight to care for. Afterward,
they become aware that some people are strangers, and it’s not a happy
discovery. Frightened girls tend to keep quiet, but boys often protest the moment
a doctor enters and don’t stop until he leaves.
During one
occasion, I removed stitches from the chin of an energetic three year-old. His
family doctor had tried, then decided to wait a few days during which time the
parents traveled to Los Angeles.
Now the skin around the sutures was inflamed, so they had to come out. Normally
suture removal is painless, but the child began shrieking at my approach. Both
parents struggled to immobilize him, but you can’t prevent someone from moving
his chin if that is his intention. Everyone on that hotel floor knew something
terrible was happening. It took five minutes to snip four sutures, leaving
everyone exhausted.
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