Expert: David Olson, MD - 11/3/2009

Question
Hi Dr Olson,
Our 13 month old daughter is a very energetic baby.  She loves to move and go and climb.  She seems to be developing typically, her fine motor skills are on par (I'm an OT), she can crawl stairs up and down, she cruises and takes a few steps, waves, claps, says Hi to everyone, smiles and laughs a lot, and has several other words/approximations including oh wow, whee, zoom, car, go, and sock.  She tends to fall and hit her head quite frequently, and she never cries.  We are concerned about what is going on with her- she doesn't cry when she gets shots or has blood taken either.  She doesn't even seem to notice.  We know that she does feel pain- she cried a lot recently when she had a terrible yeast infection.  Could there be a neurological basis for her behavior?  What else could it be?  Thanks so much!

Answer
Hi, Hanna,

Thresh-holds of pain vary in every one.  Although there are rare instances of congenital insensitivity to pain, most of these kids are obviously troubled by this.  She is probably just a kid with a "laid-back" happy outlook on life.  This is good!  Hopefully she always maintains this cheery nature.

Good luck, Dr. Olson