Thursday

I think this post should cover the full gamut of emotions

Just when I thought that we had overcome all our newborn niggles, E delivered us the night from hell. After a really good 8pm feed last night I was thinking how fortunate we are and how I love this mother role, after all E slept for almost 5 hours. Maybe it was the shock of such a long sleep, maybe he was just feeling grumpy or maybe he was ill but at 1am he began to scream with his feed but he ate a bit. He then came and lay in the bed with us but woke again at 3am he would not eat – he just screamed and shrieked as if he were in pain. Every time I tried to feed him he fell asleep but then would wake again half an hour or an hour later and yell hysterically.
Mike and I were awake- obviously. In fact I am quite sure even my neighbours were awake. We tried with every ounce of our combined experience (very limited), reading and maternal/paternal instinct to figure out what could be the matter – nothing came to mind, the child was angry and not hungry.
This morning I was still trying to get him to stay awake long enough for a feed and he was still ranging from deep sleep to full on yell mode. At 8:45, I was in tears when I took his temperature and it read 37.2. I was convinced that he was sick and I became petrified. I phoned the paediatrician in tears and we are going to see him at 11:30. He said that E’s temperature was environmental so I took of his babygrow and it soon settled. As soon as I had finished talking to Dr C, E started to eat – typical.

Now I am just embarrassed. E is as right as rain. He is back to the content gorgeous baby that we love so much and I am hauling him off to the doctor in an hour.

I could never get through this whole baby thing without Dr C. Although many believe that his views are radical and are not prepared to listen to his advice, I believe that he will make our lives with E easier and he will help E to develop to his maximum potential. As always he was calming and grounding. He did not make me feel like a fool for rushing off to the doctor after what turns out was basically just a bad night. He did not even have to examine E, although he did listen to his chest and tummy and weigh him and measure his head circumference. (He weighs 2.465kg and his head circumference is a whopping 37.2 cm). He explained to me his views on colic and gave me a very interesting article that he had written. Basically it all boils down to the same thing – over-stimulation. He explained that even things like looking in the baby’s eyes and making direct contact can be too overwhelming for the baby and because he does not have the ability to just switch off at this stage or to say “leave me alone” he cries and works himself into a state. What we need to do for E is provide a calm and soothing environment and just hold him close till he calms. We need to learn to calm him and remain calm ourselves and not keep changing the calming activity – basically just hold him tight and talk very gently to him avoiding eye contact, a dark room with no external stimuli is best for him. He said that the reason E would not eat last night was because he had to much adrenaline going through his body and basically did not want to eat because he was to “revved” up”. Dr C said to see this behaviour as a milestone because it is exactly what is expected at this age when he starts to take in the world around him. He advised me on some cream to use for his nappy rash and we were done.

After the doctor we went home and E fed and slept like a star. After his 3pm feed we went in the pram up to the shops to buy his cream and a few odds and ends. When we came home E was rather angry and he started to scream again. I tried everything to calm him but he was tense as a board. Eventually for my own sanity and his safety I left him crying in his cot for about 2 minutes (seemed like 7 hours) and I felt too terrible. One thing I keep trying to convince myself is that I could not show E that I love him anymore than I do so if I have to leave him to cry once or twice to recoup then he will still know that I love him. When I went back into the room and picked him up he settled immediately and eventually we lay on the bed and I sang Dr C’s article to him while he sucked his dummy and he was very happy.

When he started to whinge again his dad was home and he promptly prepared a warm bath. E positively loved it and fell asleep, he was really warm and relaxed. He fell asleep on M’s chest and then had a really long sleep in his cot. What a gorgeous star baby.

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