1. We are now on day five of nothing but breast milk. We're putting our head down and powering through. I do believe I deserve a pat on the back. Ok, so maybe I don't, but I'm not going to be humble when I say that I'm pretty damn proud of myself for sticking it out. It's literally taking every ounce of strength I have. We're still working on our latch - I have a lazy eater (and latcher) for a baby, but other than that, it seems to be going pretty well. A shout out to Stacie, lactation consultant at the hospital who undid the damage the La Leche League leader caused last week. She's a peach. Even though I was crying almost hysterically when I called her the first time, she answered all of my questions without judgement...I think we were on the phone for over an hour.
2. I took Carolyn for her weigh-in on Tuesday and she's finally made it back to her birth weight. Two weeks later than she was supposed to. I'm relieved.
3. Carolyn has developed a mad case of colic. At least I think it's colic. At 4 pm on the dot everyday, she starts to wail. And the wail turns into a cry. And the cry turns into a scream. Then her face turns bright red and she can't catch her breath. I've done everything I know how to do, but for the most part, she cries until 8 or 9. It's horrible. Husband hasn't been getting home at night until almost 8 pm so for the most part, I have to deal with it on my own. The crying doesn't bother me so much as the fact that there's nothing I can do to help her stop. It makes me feel useless, upset, and scared. On Tuesday, as soon as Husband walked in the door, I shoved Carolyn at him and said, "I'm done with this baby. It's your turn." It took him approximately 20 minutes to calm her down. Do other people have a secret power to calm babies that eludes me?
4. Something that has worked a little bit with the colic has been the 5 S's from The Happiest Baby on the Block (please excuse this video from The View. It contains Joy Behar - for the most part, I'd rather jump naked on a huge pile of thumbtacks than see or hear her) . The first day, it worked so well, I proclaimed Dr. Harvey Karp the genius of all geniuses...or like a prophet or something. I told at least five people about what a miracle it was. The second day, it worked NOT AT ALL and I wanted to find him and cut out his heart with a spoon. Yesterday, it worked 50% of the time. We'll see what happens today. Maybe I'm doing it wrong.
5. The good news about the colic is that it seems to wear Carolyn out. She's slept 6-7 hours a night for the past three nights. There are many out there who will say she's too young to be sleeping that long without eating, but after hours and hours of crying, if she's asleep, I'm going to let her sleep!
8 comments:
When Kevin was 5 days old he slept for 10 hours. I was a little concerned, and in pain, but I let him sleep. He survived it of course. His pediatrician told me that babies are fine to sleep for an hour for each pound they weigh, so if Carolyn weighs 6-7 pounds, let her sleep!
Bless your heart! I have never dealt with a baby with colic and I can't even imagine how hard that would be. I get frustrated if my baby cries non-stop for 10 minutes. But 4 or 5 hours! You have every right to be feeling the way you are. And definitely let her sleep, so you can get sleep too. You need every ounce of rest you can get right now.
You are doing a great job, Erin. And I love it that you post all these things, good and bad. I think so many people go through these things, especially with their first babies. It helps to know that we aren't alone in our struggles.
I'm with you on Joy Behar.
Just let her sleep during the night. Britain started sleeping like that at 5 1/5 weeks. I loved it because then I got some sleep. If he would have slept through the night at birth I would have let him.
Babywearing may be your answer to the screaming sessions...and again, feel free to rev up the vacuum. That was my saving grace...that and the hair dryer. Eli screamed from 4-10p every day. I was alone, DH was in Iraq, and my mom had no idea what to do to help me. We played music, we danced, we walked, we walked, we walked outside...it was maddening.
Good luck!
WAY TO GO!!! Good job sticking with the breastfeeding. It is dang hard, so good job! And Way to go Carolyn for getting up to your birth weight! Also, good job not selling her to the gypsies after putting up with all that crying. (I don't know if Carolyn would like this, but my babies really liked going outside. So maybe even taking a stroll during that time might give you a little relief.) At any rate, way to go!! You are doing great!
My husband was so much better at calming our colicky baby. He worked really late hours as well, but he still got the guy as soon as he walked in the door. Colicky babies are so hard to figure out, but (when you aren't about to give up) are fun to love because you serve them so much more. My big fear after having my first as a crier was that I would have to do that over and over again, but we have had 2 more and they might not be angels, but I think they are (compared to their brother :). Oh, and he grew out of his bad attitude :)...he is a really sweet kid now!
My babies never had colic, but when they cried hysterically I would take them outside and 99 percent of the time it would calm them down.
Now, I'm not necessarily recommending this, but my mom had colic as a baby -- she said my grandma was told to give her a nip of rum (or some kind of liquor) -- she did it and apparently it worked like a charm. For the record, my grandma was a member of the church too. :)
You're doing great, Erin!
It was whiskey, not rum. My bad. ;)
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