surviving colic

The first couple of weeks after we brought our little guy home from the hospital were a breeze. He nursed and slept… slept and nursed. The whole newborn thing was a piece of cake… or so I thought. I clearly remember telling someone on the phone, “I can’t believe how easy this all is!” Then one day it all changed… drastically.

It was right around our little guy’s third week. My husband had to be in NYC for business so he was off early for the day. I got up with the baby, ready for another day of nursing, sleeping, changing, repeat. The baby had an entirely different idea for the day. The crying started mid-morning… and progressed to inconsolable screaming shortly thereafter. I tried all that I could think of to soothe him… breast, rocking, pacifier, swaying, stroller ride, and so on. Nothing worked. After three plus hours of crying, and countless calls to my husband demanding that he come home now, I called the pediatrician. I explained to the nurse the morning we were having, and she told me, “It sounds like it could be the beginning of colic.” That dreaded word. No, it absolutely was not colic. It had to be something else. Being convinced that there had to be something wrong, I made an appointment to bring him in.

There was nothing “wrong”… it was colic… and it wasn’t going away anytime soon.
To say dealing with colic is a challenge is an understatement. It is hard… very hard. The worst we experienced was eight hours of straight crying. I remember moments of complete physical and emotional exhaustion where I would put the little guy in his bouncer… still crying of course… and just curl up on the floor next to him and cry myself. As a mother, it is incredibly difficult to not be able to soothe your child. All you want to do is make it all better.

Determined to at least make my son as comfortable as possible and to lessen the colic (and resulting crying) to whatever degree I could, I sought out every tip and trick I could find. My first move was to make drastic changes to my diet (since I was breastfeeding). I cut out all dairy, acidic and spicy foods. I started seeing almost immediate results. I turned to music and rhythmic motion. One of the best tricks we learned (actually a favorite of my husband’s) was to bounce on an inflated exercise ball, while holding baby. We bounced for hours! We never tried the car seat on top of the dryer trick (which some moms swear by!), but we did on occasion find ourselves on extended destination-less drives through our neighborhood. The sound and vibration of the engine running would usually calm the little guy down… key word being usually. Night after night and week after week, my husband and I took turns swaying and shushing, rocking and walking.

All the books tell you the same things… there is no real known cause for colic… there is no real no known cure for colic… and that more often than not it is gone by three months. I was cautious in believing the last point, but maintained hope that it was true. Thankfully, for us, it was. Almost as quickly as it started, it subsided. Seemingly overnight, our little guy was a whole new baby.
Even though he is just ten months now, those times now seem like a distant memory. I have to really think back to remember how difficult it was. He is such a happy and easy-going baby, full of smiles and giggles. He brings more joy to our lives than we could have ever dreamed possible.

Colic is hard… very hard. While going through it, one might wonder how they are ever going to survive it… but they will… and it will all be worth it.

animoto

Like most first-time parents out there, we have documented nearly every stage of our little guy’s 9-months. By this point I am sure we have bored all of our family and friends with the endless stream of e-mails announcing a new album on our photo sharing site. Today I came across Animoto (http://www.animoto.com), a fantastic site that allows you to create free (yes, FREE!) 30-second video montages, complete with music, from your favorite pics. The process is as simple as uploading your photos and choosing your music (from either your own personal collections or their library of 100’s of songs). Animoto then works their magic in putting the video together and sends the link to your personal email. The video can be shared via email or posted on Facebook. At least now our family members and friends will be bombarded with actual videos, as opposed to just our static photos.

the must haves and the completely unnecessary: some tips for expectant mothers

As a first-time expectant mother the idea of registering is exciting... yay stuff! Cute little baby stuff! Then you actually get to Babies R' Us and you quickly go from excited and enthusiastic, to overwhelmed and confused. Your more experienced friend, who has agreed to show you the ropes and tell you what you “really really” need, drags you from aisle to aisle talking about bouncers, diaper pails, breast pumps and wipe warmers. What you thought would be a fun hour spent zapping away with the scan gun, turns into a three hour ordeal and leaves you feeling even more unprepared for your coming bundle of joy. If I don’t even know what I need for this baby, how am I going to know what to do for it? You survive the registering adventure only to make daily changes to the registry online after reading countless reviews and customer ratings.

I will not claim to be the all-knowing expert on everything required to be “ready” for baby. However, in the 9-months since my little man arrived, I have found that there are some baby products that you absolutely cannot live without when you first bring baby home and others that are completely unnecessary:

The Must Haves…
· Plenty of onesies and sleepers – both newborn and one size up, because some babies come out a little bigger than others
· Diapers and wipes to get you started when you come home from the hospital – so your husband avoids a frantic rush to an all-night pharmacy
· Receiving blankets and burp cloths – lots of them
· A comprehensive newborn / infant resource book – you will need something to turn to with middle of the night questions
· A soothing sound machine for baby to sleep to – aaahhh… the comforting sounds of the womb
· An odor minimizing diaper pail – either the Genie or the Champ works, just have something
· A dual-motion swing – the side-to-side and back-and-forth option has helped soothe many a fussy baby (and saved the sanity of their parents)
· A bouncer, ideally with vibration and music – you cannot possibly hold baby all the time in those first months
· A stroller that really is easy to open and close – be sure to practice before bringing baby home and trying to open it with one hand, while holding baby in the other
· An infant car seat with easily adjustable straps – again, practice before baby
· Formula if you plan on bottle feeding
· Bottles and pacifiers (if you plan to use them)
· A first-aid / grooming kit complete with nasal aspirator, thermometer and baby nail-clippers
· Pack n’ Play with changing table that ideally can be set up in whatever room you will be spending the most time in
· An exersaucer or jumper – once baby has good head control they will love being able to be upright to play (plus, it can give mom a few minutes to get something done)

The Unnecessary…
· A wipe warmer – many a baby’s behinds have been wiped with un-warmed wipes, and they are just fine
· Shoes – if you do not yet walk, you do not need shoes
· Fancy outfits – honestly, the simpler the better
· An overabundance of toys – for the first few months, you will be your baby’s favorite entertainment

And for the breast feeding mamas…
· Lansinoh nipple cream – trust me… if you are breastfeeding, you will need it
· Nursing bras at least one size larger than either you or the lady at the bra shop thinks you should get
· A couple of bottles and a small can of formula, just in case

shake it baby, shake it!

Andrew has no shortage of toys. He is the first grandchild on both sides, so you could easily say that he might be a bit spoiled. He has quite a collection of stuffed animals, books, soft blocks, stacking rings, driving things, etc. You name it, he has some form of it. They all manage to hold his attention to some degree, but nothing entertains him nearly as much as his beloved maracas... yes, maracas. Put on some of his favorite music and he shakes his maracas like the best of them. If you try to use of them to play along to the music as well, he will grab it right of your hand. Shake shake shake... shake shake shake. For only 9-months he's got some rhythm!

When he was just 6-months, we enrolled in a 10-week class through the Music Together program (http://www.musictogether.com/). I thought he might be a little young for it at the time, but he loved it. As part of the class, there was always a "free jam" period during which the babies all got to bang, shake, rattle and roll a collection of different musical instruments. It was here that his love of the maraca first came to be. To continue his musical interest at home, we bought an instrument set from Melissa & Doug (http://www.melissaanddoug.com/dyn_prod.php?p=488&k=88552&name=Band-in-a-Box). The set is fantastic... some pieces he is not quite ready for yet, but we will get there.

From me to we to three..

From me to we to three… that defines my last few years. From single twenty-something to happy newlywed to mom. While each period was fantastic in its own right, nothing beats being mom to Andrew, my amazingly awesome 8-month old son. I have learned more in the last eight months than I ever dreamed possible… like how to calm a colicky baby, how precious an infant’s first smile is, how to exist on little to no sleep, or the fact that no toy is as interesting in a simple game of peek-a-boo, the phone you are trying to have a conversation on or the remote control.