Ho-ho-ho! Gather ’round, my little elves, as I recount a tale from the bustling workshop of the University of Virginia NICU, where the clever caregivers have been busy not with toys, but with the delicate task of soothing the tiniest of tots with a potion known as gabapentin.

In this yuletide yarn, the NICU’s ledger of medical miracles was perused, looking back on all the infants who had been given this special concoction from the first snow of 2015 to the blooming flowers of 2021. The tale tells of 104 little cherubs, most of them as young as the spring’s first buds, who were given gabapentin to calm their fussiness, much like a warm glass of milk might soothe a child on Christmas Eve.

These tiny tots, mostly bouncing baby boys, were often taking other potions to help them rest, with gabapentin being just one part of their magical slumber recipe. The caregivers, as meticulous as Santa’s own list-checkers, found that the majority of these infants needed special care even after leaving the NICU, with many requiring feeding tubes and breaths of life from machines.

Upon their follow-up visits, much like the annual checking of Santa’s list, it was found that a whopping 93% of these little ones were facing delays in their development, and by the time they were two, two-thirds were facing challenges in many areas of growth.

This story, my dear friends, is a reminder that the journey of these little ones is long and filled with care, much like the careful crafting of toys in our workshop, and that the watchful eyes of their caregivers are as important as Rudolph’s bright nose guiding my sleigh through the foggy night.