One Of Those Nights
Posted in: Illustrations
A couple of nights ago we had one of those nights where Isabelle was crying and not sucking and at my wit’s end I posted to my blog pleading the internet world for advice and help. But it being something like 2am in the morning it was highly doubtful anyone read it for all of the few minutes that it was up. Times like this always lead to the blame game.
Alan tactfully asks: is something different? (not what did you do different? because you know I’m all ready to jump down someone’s throat and it not being the baby’s you know who will get it if he says what did you do differently?) See, what he’s referring to is when Isabelle gets like this we assume it has to be something I ate. No scientific proof of this, just when it’s the middle of the night and the baby’s been crying for over an hour, you’re grasping at straws. So what do we blame?! “It was the sip of Coke I had earlier” or “I had a piece of chocolate. I’m hopping my baby up on caffeine!”
Turns out she was tired. Tired and wanted to sleep and couldn’t because her mom kept trying to stick boob in her mouth thinking she was hungry. We bounced her but obviously didn’t give it long enough to work. See, that’s a new thing I just figured out, crying because she was tired. Mama had to learn. So this morning when she did it again: crying and not sucking and not hungry because she had just eaten like freaking few minutes before, mama figured it out. TIRED. Let’s say it again, it was such a revelation. T.I.R.E.D.
I rocked her until she fell asleep. See…I’m learning. 
June 21st, 2006 at 12:55 am
A big hug from me. I sooooo understand.
And, sometimes it is something you ate, but rarely will be just a sip of coke or a slice of chocolate cake. If you drank 3 cups of coffee, then you can blame it on that. I currently cannot eat onions or my baby Jack will make our life very difficult.
June 21st, 2006 at 12:55 am
TIRED? I must write that down in my parenting journal. Can I quote you to the social worker? Parenting Lesson #____
June 21st, 2006 at 12:56 am
Did you try putting her into the hammock and bouncing her? You have to match the bounce to the intensity of her crying otherwise it will not work. Or march her up and down around the house matching her intensity. The hammock will save your arms though. Also the yoga poise from Itsy Bitsy Yoga helps soothe babies instantly. First you stand up and spread your legs wide to get good leverage. Then hold baby facing away from you in a sitting position with one hand cuppud under her chin supporting her head since she is still so little, and with your other hand under her bottom, so she is sitting down on your hand being held upright, facing away from you. Then you just lunge her up and down, while you are squating up and down, matching the intensity of the motion to the intensity of her crying. This works well for right after getting vaccination shots too.