On November 2, 2007, I went to a perinatologist to find out why I had a low level of amniotic fluid in my uterus. The verdict: My baby had no kidneys, which meant he would never live outside the womb. I could either carry to term (with no hope of his survival), or I could terminate the pregnancy. Devastated, my husband and I held each other all night, leaving home only to go to church and pray.
M, Tyler and I traveled to the Chicago suburbs for our very first overnighter as a family of three. Overall, it went well--despite my parents' incredibly sucky rocking chair. This morning, we went to our niece's baptism. Afterwards, all of us went to a pancake place to celebrate--us, my parents, my brother, SIL, the baby and their 2-year-old, and SIL's two sisters and their families--a total of 11 kids under 10, most of whom are younger than 5. Needless to say, it was pandemonium, especially when my 2-year-old niece decided to throw a major temper tantrum. Guess whose kid was the most angelic of all of them? (Well, then again, Tyler is only 3 weeks old and mostly oblivious to the world.
One question, however: When a baby is fed, and changed, and comfortable, and consistently gets fussy (not all the time, but usually at least once in between feedings), is that normal?
2 comments:
Remembering Zachary with you.
As for Tyler's fussiness- I'd say it's totally normal for a newborn. Colic isn't considered to be colic unless they are screaming for hours on end. The fussiness? Is he tired? Is he overstimulated? I remember trying desperately to figure out why Jonah was fussy. I think it's just part of the newborn adjustment. You end up figuring out what their fussing means by trial and error. For us, we figured out it meant he was overtired, and we hadn't picked up on his earlier signals, so it would take longer to settle him.
Alice is 11weeks old and just starting to get over the fussy periods at night. She would frequently get fussy despite having (seemingly) all of her needs met early on--I think partly because it's a hard transition leaving the cozy womb (I think calling the first three months the "fourth trimester" is right-on) and due to overtired/overstimulation. Those were the times that the 5 s's were really useful.
As for your last post, I second most if the comments that babies won't sleep until they're ready. Learning her sleep cues (rubbing eyes, yawn, looking away, glassy stare) was one if the best things we did in the first several weeks. Her sleep became more regular by 6-7 weeks, and now she's asleep by 8 pm every night. I hope that's helpful!
Post a Comment