Phoebe & Allyson
July 8th 03, 03:49 AM
Caterpillar had a no good, horrible, very bad day today.
Woke up around 8:30, nursed on both sides, got changed, into
the carseat, off to have her ears checked (she can hear!).
Big poopy diaper around 10am, right on schedule; didn't want
to nurse after (unusual -- she usually eats every 2 hours,
and after a diaper change). Then on to a few errands and work.
Nursed again around noon (unusual to go that long during the
day), burped, napped. Half an hour after she ate, she was
up fussing, then crying, then screaming. She sounded like
she was in pain, not hungry, so we tried walking and singing
and swinging and gas drops and burping and rocking and each
thing worked for a few seconds, then she was back to
screaming. So I fed her again, and she nursed
half-heartedly and fell back asleep.
I handed her off, and she fussed, then cried, then screamed.
Eventually she had a giant blowout diaper (which everyone
hoped would solve the problem), which made her feel hungry,
so we nursed, then slept, then fussed, then cried, then
screamed. Repeat until everyone but me was frustrated with
her and at wit's end.
Finally, I happened to come in just as she was starting to
wiggle awake, picked her up, and fed her before she had a
chance to peep. And fed her and fed her and fed her until
she was so full she went back to sleep. Then I just carried
her around the rest of the afternoon, until we went home.
At that point, she'd slept for about an hour, compared with
the 15-20 minutes she had been getting.
Got home, took her out of her seat and nursed her. She was
full and asleep, I was starving, so I handed her to
Allyson's mom while I ate. Within 5 minutes, she was
fussing, then crying, then screaming. Finally, I pointed
out that the only thing that had worked the entire day to
calm her down was to feed her, and fed her while I ate
one-handed.
Since then, she's nursed for 10 minutes every 45 minutes,
which doesn't bother me -- when I'm home, I really don't
have anything better to do than carry her and feed her.
In the last two weeks, she's done really well coming to
work. She does tend to get overtired, in part because her
grandparents like to play with her as opposed to just
carrying her around, and because she gets put down by
herself more, so she does have to fuss some if she wants to
be carried. And she has wanted more nursing on the evenings
we go to work, but she normally eats less during those days.
But today, my easy, never-crying, fuss-free baby spent
virtually the entire day crying inconsolably whenever she
wasn't being fed.
She's coming up on 6 weeks, so it's possible she's going
through a growth spurt. But if the stress of too many
people and too much heat and having to wait to be picked up
and held and fed is causing her so much distress that she
cries all the time, then we're going to have to figure out
some way of fixing those things.
We've got a sling, but it's a padded one and I can't adjust
it tight enough to carry her chest-to-chest, and she doesn't
like lying down in it. I think a front-pack might work, if
I can either nurse her in it or get her out easily when
she's hungry. A Maya wrap might be better in the long run
(because I can carry her different ways), though. I can
leave her on a Boppy pillow on my lap between nursings, but
can't really get up and wander around with her unless I use
both hands for her. And it's so big it limits how much of
my arms I can use too much for me to get any work done but
reading.
Anyone have any thoughts on poor Caterpillar's plight, or
the best carrier that would let me hold her while sitting or
standing or nursing with minimal adjustment between
positions, and preferably the maximal use of my hands when
she's not eating?
Phoebe :)
Woke up around 8:30, nursed on both sides, got changed, into
the carseat, off to have her ears checked (she can hear!).
Big poopy diaper around 10am, right on schedule; didn't want
to nurse after (unusual -- she usually eats every 2 hours,
and after a diaper change). Then on to a few errands and work.
Nursed again around noon (unusual to go that long during the
day), burped, napped. Half an hour after she ate, she was
up fussing, then crying, then screaming. She sounded like
she was in pain, not hungry, so we tried walking and singing
and swinging and gas drops and burping and rocking and each
thing worked for a few seconds, then she was back to
screaming. So I fed her again, and she nursed
half-heartedly and fell back asleep.
I handed her off, and she fussed, then cried, then screamed.
Eventually she had a giant blowout diaper (which everyone
hoped would solve the problem), which made her feel hungry,
so we nursed, then slept, then fussed, then cried, then
screamed. Repeat until everyone but me was frustrated with
her and at wit's end.
Finally, I happened to come in just as she was starting to
wiggle awake, picked her up, and fed her before she had a
chance to peep. And fed her and fed her and fed her until
she was so full she went back to sleep. Then I just carried
her around the rest of the afternoon, until we went home.
At that point, she'd slept for about an hour, compared with
the 15-20 minutes she had been getting.
Got home, took her out of her seat and nursed her. She was
full and asleep, I was starving, so I handed her to
Allyson's mom while I ate. Within 5 minutes, she was
fussing, then crying, then screaming. Finally, I pointed
out that the only thing that had worked the entire day to
calm her down was to feed her, and fed her while I ate
one-handed.
Since then, she's nursed for 10 minutes every 45 minutes,
which doesn't bother me -- when I'm home, I really don't
have anything better to do than carry her and feed her.
In the last two weeks, she's done really well coming to
work. She does tend to get overtired, in part because her
grandparents like to play with her as opposed to just
carrying her around, and because she gets put down by
herself more, so she does have to fuss some if she wants to
be carried. And she has wanted more nursing on the evenings
we go to work, but she normally eats less during those days.
But today, my easy, never-crying, fuss-free baby spent
virtually the entire day crying inconsolably whenever she
wasn't being fed.
She's coming up on 6 weeks, so it's possible she's going
through a growth spurt. But if the stress of too many
people and too much heat and having to wait to be picked up
and held and fed is causing her so much distress that she
cries all the time, then we're going to have to figure out
some way of fixing those things.
We've got a sling, but it's a padded one and I can't adjust
it tight enough to carry her chest-to-chest, and she doesn't
like lying down in it. I think a front-pack might work, if
I can either nurse her in it or get her out easily when
she's hungry. A Maya wrap might be better in the long run
(because I can carry her different ways), though. I can
leave her on a Boppy pillow on my lap between nursings, but
can't really get up and wander around with her unless I use
both hands for her. And it's so big it limits how much of
my arms I can use too much for me to get any work done but
reading.
Anyone have any thoughts on poor Caterpillar's plight, or
the best carrier that would let me hold her while sitting or
standing or nursing with minimal adjustment between
positions, and preferably the maximal use of my hands when
she's not eating?
Phoebe :)