One visit to a Children’s Hospital in November 2013 we were passing through one ward on our way to work in another, or so we thought……we were spotted and invited into one young patient’s room by his Mum.
She already knew us and knew of our work, as we had met before when her older daughter had been in the same hospital previously. Recently, her young baby had been having difficulty in passing faecal matter over the last four days and as a result was constipated and unable to take in much milk when hungry. He was crying in Mum’s arms as she struggled to get him to drink 30 ml of milk, and then appeared in pain.
We entered the room and played a variety of suitable pieces from our repertoire. The doctors came by the room and went away again, encouraging us to stay as if to see what result might occur from our music…..we stayed about 15-20 mins. The baby calmed and Mum was able to lay him down for a rest. We left and went off to another ward where we worked for the rest of the morning.
On our way back through to break for lunch, we put our heads around the door of the room with Mum and baby. She reported that the little one had had a massive bowel movement, had taken some more milk, and had slept for the rest of the morning uninterrupted.
