The C word. Not that one... the other one.
COLIC.
When I was pregnant, anytime I read stuff about colic I just skimmed over it because obviously that would never apply to me. My baby would be happy because... why wouldn't he be? Well. Here we are. I hate to even use the word, but I think our baby might have colic. Starting around 2 weeks, he would scream every night before going to bed, and seemed generally discontent when he was awake during the day. And since then, it has gotten worse building up to a 9 hour scream fest on Tuesday.
I'm not kidding. He cried and screamed for nine hours straight. Not sure how he even had the energy to do that, but between my mom and I, we couldn't do anything to calm him. This is really hard, by the way. Other than just being tiring and annoying, a sad baby really messes with your head... and I totally get why mothers of colicky babies are more vulnerable to post partum depression.
So we promptly went to the doctor yesterday. I think the appointment was moreso for me than him. I just needed some hope that this could be fixed. I was already worried that the doctor might blow me off and just be like "yeah yeah, witching hour, blah blah blah" and then what does Henry do? He laughs for the very first time. He laughed in his sleep and I let him know that laughing was not going to help mom convince the doctor that he had a medical issue. Luckily, the doctor really listened and went through all the things it COULD be, but that he thought it was probably either reflux or colic. He seemed to be leaning towards colic, but I am so glad he gave us a zantac prescription to try so that we could rule reflux out. He also mentioned that anymore he really only gets 1-2 real cases of true colic every year.
My heart sank. So out of the hundreds of babies he sees, I maybe just so happened to get the one that can't be happy? In the case that it IS unfixable colic (even though I don't really believe that colic is a "thing"), he suggested reading The Happiest Baby on the Block. I had heard of this book before, but never gave it much thought because there are a million different "make your baby happy" books, and I assumed they are all about as useful as a diet book. The idea behind The Happiest Baby is that babies have a calming reflex, and like any reflex, to trigger this one you have to do everything just right. So it gives you a very specific way/order to do all the things like swaddling and rocking so that the reflex is activated.
Well, I gave him the zantac yesterday and he pretty much slept the rest of the day (fine by me), and I spent my time reading as much of the book as possible. It got to be 10pm, and he still had not screamed once. Maybe the medicine is working!? Then five minutes later it started. Lots of screaming. So I swaddled the hell out of him and did everything the book told me to do. Like MAGIC, he calmed down and went to sleep in five minutes. And then he slept until 4am to nurse and went back to bed until 8am. Best night of my life.
I woke up feeling like a real person today. It was amazing... until I spilled the ENTIRE bottle of zantac. I've never felt like a bigger idiot in my life than when I had to call the pharmacy and explain what I had done. I've also never felt more panicked. OMG HE LOOKS LIKE HE MIGHT CRY - GET ME MORE MAGIC DRUGS NOW!
Here's hoping that tonight will go as well as last night. Because I could really get used to a baby that likes me.
COLIC.
When I was pregnant, anytime I read stuff about colic I just skimmed over it because obviously that would never apply to me. My baby would be happy because... why wouldn't he be? Well. Here we are. I hate to even use the word, but I think our baby might have colic. Starting around 2 weeks, he would scream every night before going to bed, and seemed generally discontent when he was awake during the day. And since then, it has gotten worse building up to a 9 hour scream fest on Tuesday.
I'm not kidding. He cried and screamed for nine hours straight. Not sure how he even had the energy to do that, but between my mom and I, we couldn't do anything to calm him. This is really hard, by the way. Other than just being tiring and annoying, a sad baby really messes with your head... and I totally get why mothers of colicky babies are more vulnerable to post partum depression.
So we promptly went to the doctor yesterday. I think the appointment was moreso for me than him. I just needed some hope that this could be fixed. I was already worried that the doctor might blow me off and just be like "yeah yeah, witching hour, blah blah blah" and then what does Henry do? He laughs for the very first time. He laughed in his sleep and I let him know that laughing was not going to help mom convince the doctor that he had a medical issue. Luckily, the doctor really listened and went through all the things it COULD be, but that he thought it was probably either reflux or colic. He seemed to be leaning towards colic, but I am so glad he gave us a zantac prescription to try so that we could rule reflux out. He also mentioned that anymore he really only gets 1-2 real cases of true colic every year.
My heart sank. So out of the hundreds of babies he sees, I maybe just so happened to get the one that can't be happy? In the case that it IS unfixable colic (even though I don't really believe that colic is a "thing"), he suggested reading The Happiest Baby on the Block. I had heard of this book before, but never gave it much thought because there are a million different "make your baby happy" books, and I assumed they are all about as useful as a diet book. The idea behind The Happiest Baby is that babies have a calming reflex, and like any reflex, to trigger this one you have to do everything just right. So it gives you a very specific way/order to do all the things like swaddling and rocking so that the reflex is activated.
Well, I gave him the zantac yesterday and he pretty much slept the rest of the day (fine by me), and I spent my time reading as much of the book as possible. It got to be 10pm, and he still had not screamed once. Maybe the medicine is working!? Then five minutes later it started. Lots of screaming. So I swaddled the hell out of him and did everything the book told me to do. Like MAGIC, he calmed down and went to sleep in five minutes. And then he slept until 4am to nurse and went back to bed until 8am. Best night of my life.
I woke up feeling like a real person today. It was amazing... until I spilled the ENTIRE bottle of zantac. I've never felt like a bigger idiot in my life than when I had to call the pharmacy and explain what I had done. I've also never felt more panicked. OMG HE LOOKS LIKE HE MIGHT CRY - GET ME MORE MAGIC DRUGS NOW!
Here's hoping that tonight will go as well as last night. Because I could really get used to a baby that likes me.
Before the intervention...
After...
Henry loves hugs by the way.
Love,
Lauren
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