Today it was predicted to rain all day, beginning around 11:00AM. For the third day in a row. In order to preserve my home and my sanity, I decided to make a run for it and attend the 9:30 Books and Babies at the Newport Central Library.
This is something new for Alia. Although we have tried to attend several of these, it's never happened. Even as recently as Monday, we showed up at 9:30 only to find the freaking library was closed for MLK Day. I mean, why wouldn't it be closed...I only battled a toddler, hail and rain, and my own lack of energy to make the journey there happen.
So today, we made it. We arrived to find a half dozen toddlers already there. Alia clung to me. She was a little nervous and shy around the other kids. About 10 minutes before the reading began, they opened the door to the reading room. Toddlers bolted in crisscross crooked lines with arms in the air for the room. Alia stayed back with me. I slowly coaxed her forward, and we found a spot against the wall. To my surprise, as I sat on the floor, legs crossed in front of me, Alia plopped right down on my lap and burrowed into me. This is not my normally spirited and confident little girl...so I took full advantage of the cuddles.
We began by all singing a song together...the Incey Wincey Spider. As we all did the hand motions, Alia sat quietly and took it in without participating. Next, the nice lady read us a story about animals on the farm and what they said...a cow says Moo...a chicken says Bok!...and a goat says...hang on...a goat grunts? Thats when I realized Alia had taken both of my hands and was bearing down. While sitting on my lap. In the middle of story time. Well, at least it was loud enough for her to get lost in the noise, right? Well, one would think.
However, that's when Alia did her signature move...she stood up, faced me, held one of my hands in each of her hands, and made her there's-no-mistaking-what's-going-on-below face of "I'm pooping!" So much for discreet.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Still here....
Hi there. Remember me? I used to have a blog that I wrote daily. Now I have a blog that I think about writing, but rarely get the chance. I wish I could write more, but there are only so many hours in the day.
Right now, Amelie is at the end of her 11th week here in our big blue world. She goes to bed early, and wakes at 11, 2, and 5 for feeding. Sure, if I were a late to bed person, that would mean 2 night feedings after bed. But I go to bed at 9 and get up with her at 5 or so, so basically, I am tired all the time because she's just not ready to sleep through the night yet.
On the positive side, she's ready for bed at 6:30, and yes, I realize that most people would recommend that I push back her bedtime a bit so that I'd wake fewer times in the night. Maybe I have failed to mention that we've tried virtually every bedtime and she basically sleeps and wakes during the same time segments regardless of when she goes down? Yeah, I know this because I am a dorky Type A person and I actually collected all of her sleep data over the last 60 days and found that if she goes to bed at 6 PM or we wake her and feed her again at 9PM (or anything in between), she will still wake around 11. So we stopped doing that...
Me? Well, sometimes I wonder if there is still a "me". I am so consumed by taking care of two babies that things like shaving my legs, doing my nails, and having my eyebrows done are a rarity. Today? I colored my own hair. No, not to save the $200 it costs to have it done...hell, I'd pay $200 just to sit in a chair for the 2 hours it takes. Basically it was out of necessity and lack of time. I wonder how Kate Gosselin ever managed to keep her reverse mullot so perfectly sculpted with 8 kids....who has time to go get their hair done?
Is this a complaint? Nope. I am happy. I love my girls. I am still madly in love with my husband who is the world's best father. I am just tired. Very tired. Oh, yeah, and constantly stained, oh yeah, and I don't ever have the chance to look in the mirror after my initial shower/makeup routine at 5AM, so I'm pretty sure I'm unattractive, too. But I wouldn't trade this for anything. Having Amelie is a gift...I'm so fortunate to have another baby to care for.
Right now, Amelie is at the end of her 11th week here in our big blue world. She goes to bed early, and wakes at 11, 2, and 5 for feeding. Sure, if I were a late to bed person, that would mean 2 night feedings after bed. But I go to bed at 9 and get up with her at 5 or so, so basically, I am tired all the time because she's just not ready to sleep through the night yet.
On the positive side, she's ready for bed at 6:30, and yes, I realize that most people would recommend that I push back her bedtime a bit so that I'd wake fewer times in the night. Maybe I have failed to mention that we've tried virtually every bedtime and she basically sleeps and wakes during the same time segments regardless of when she goes down? Yeah, I know this because I am a dorky Type A person and I actually collected all of her sleep data over the last 60 days and found that if she goes to bed at 6 PM or we wake her and feed her again at 9PM (or anything in between), she will still wake around 11. So we stopped doing that...
Me? Well, sometimes I wonder if there is still a "me". I am so consumed by taking care of two babies that things like shaving my legs, doing my nails, and having my eyebrows done are a rarity. Today? I colored my own hair. No, not to save the $200 it costs to have it done...hell, I'd pay $200 just to sit in a chair for the 2 hours it takes. Basically it was out of necessity and lack of time. I wonder how Kate Gosselin ever managed to keep her reverse mullot so perfectly sculpted with 8 kids....who has time to go get their hair done?
Is this a complaint? Nope. I am happy. I love my girls. I am still madly in love with my husband who is the world's best father. I am just tired. Very tired. Oh, yeah, and constantly stained, oh yeah, and I don't ever have the chance to look in the mirror after my initial shower/makeup routine at 5AM, so I'm pretty sure I'm unattractive, too. But I wouldn't trade this for anything. Having Amelie is a gift...I'm so fortunate to have another baby to care for.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Sweetness
Yeah, by reading my last two entries, you might think that 1. I don't like my Alia, and 2. She is turning into a brat.
Well, you'd be wrong, through no fault of your own. I led you right down that path!
Alia. She can be naughty. She can be the sweetest of all the sweetie pies. She is just becoming. And that is bound to lead to frustration on her side and on my side.
So that's all. My maternal guilt of venting about my first born baby led me to write again that I do in fact love her with all that I am, and enjoy her endlessly the vast majority of time. She's my sweet, clever, funny little farty pants.
Well, you'd be wrong, through no fault of your own. I led you right down that path!
Alia. She can be naughty. She can be the sweetest of all the sweetie pies. She is just becoming. And that is bound to lead to frustration on her side and on my side.
So that's all. My maternal guilt of venting about my first born baby led me to write again that I do in fact love her with all that I am, and enjoy her endlessly the vast majority of time. She's my sweet, clever, funny little farty pants.
The new sheriff, part deux...
So remember my post about there being a new sheriff in town? Well, it was my last post come to think of it. Anyway...my self-discovery as a parent continues this week.
Some days, Alia smacks me in the face. I give her my firmest NO! and she looks at me like I annoy her even more, and she gears up to smack me again.
Some days, Alia runs around like a wild monkey when it's time to leave the house. "Let's get dressed" and "lets put on our shoes" is just an invitation for my naughty girl to challenge me. She runs from me. She hides in her tent, in her closet, runs around the table. We cannot get out the door even when we need to.
On some days, Alia wants everything. The 10,000th bear to add to her collection. The 500th ball to add to her collection. And yet, we indulge. She doesn't often hear "No" when it comes to things she wants.
Alia enjoys bringing paper towels from their storage place in garage. We buy a case at Costco, and bring them up as needed. Only as far as Alia is concerned, we need a new roll every day. Sometimes two. So I open my cabinet beneath the sink and paper towels fall out. I open my cleaning supply cabinet and paper towels fall out. I do not want all these paper towels in my cabinets...but rather than telling Alia, "no, we're not bringing towels up this time", we indulge.
Now to some people, these may not seem like serious issues. After all, Alia is 17 months old and is learning how the world works. And as human beings, we succeed through life by manipulating the environment around us to our liking....and by golly, Alia is an expert at that component of being human! But, as a parent, it's my job to guide her, and I have room to improve in that area.
Okay, see, up until now, I've found myself thinking "what's a few extra rolls of paper towels? it makes her happy. loosen up, Monica". However, this type of thinking is also responsible for putting off teaching her no. And do I really want to teach her "no" when she's 2?
Now, I'm not saying I'm the new nazi in town and it's my way or the highway, but I am hoping to tighten things up a little bit around here. Up until now, I think I've given her too much latitude because she's only a year old...like "she's just a baby, what do you expect"?
Some days, Alia smacks me in the face. I give her my firmest NO! and she looks at me like I annoy her even more, and she gears up to smack me again.
Some days, Alia runs around like a wild monkey when it's time to leave the house. "Let's get dressed" and "lets put on our shoes" is just an invitation for my naughty girl to challenge me. She runs from me. She hides in her tent, in her closet, runs around the table. We cannot get out the door even when we need to.
On some days, Alia wants everything. The 10,000th bear to add to her collection. The 500th ball to add to her collection. And yet, we indulge. She doesn't often hear "No" when it comes to things she wants.
Alia enjoys bringing paper towels from their storage place in garage. We buy a case at Costco, and bring them up as needed. Only as far as Alia is concerned, we need a new roll every day. Sometimes two. So I open my cabinet beneath the sink and paper towels fall out. I open my cleaning supply cabinet and paper towels fall out. I do not want all these paper towels in my cabinets...but rather than telling Alia, "no, we're not bringing towels up this time", we indulge.
Now to some people, these may not seem like serious issues. After all, Alia is 17 months old and is learning how the world works. And as human beings, we succeed through life by manipulating the environment around us to our liking....and by golly, Alia is an expert at that component of being human! But, as a parent, it's my job to guide her, and I have room to improve in that area.
Okay, see, up until now, I've found myself thinking "what's a few extra rolls of paper towels? it makes her happy. loosen up, Monica". However, this type of thinking is also responsible for putting off teaching her no. And do I really want to teach her "no" when she's 2?
Now, I'm not saying I'm the new nazi in town and it's my way or the highway, but I am hoping to tighten things up a little bit around here. Up until now, I think I've given her too much latitude because she's only a year old...like "she's just a baby, what do you expect"?
But now I see the error in my ways....I realize now that she totally knows what to expect at naptime, bedtime, dinner time, and even bath time, and behaves accordingly...no crying, dragging her feet...she just knows.
But during the day? She thinks she's been put on the earth to order me around. On some days, transitioning from one activity to the next is a kicking and hitting/crying nightmare. I think I need to stop asking her "do you want to...." and just lay it out for her as to what the plan is. Today for example..."do you want to go to the library?" Yeah! she says. Then it took me at least 25 minutes to get her dressed through crying and hitting me. Rather than telling her "it's time to get dressed" I was saying "don't you want to go? to the library?" and then she would cry more because she was stuck between wanting to go and wanting to fight getting dressed.
The whole idea that she gets to choose what we do and when we do it is ridiculous if you think about it...she's one. She's one member of our family and I have other responsibilities...I'm not here to be her full time facilitator of her whims. I think I need to be more in control and cognitive of what we're teaching of her...and if I'm allowing her to run around like a monkey when it's time to get her shoes on, I'm basically telling her it's okay if I stand for it. Anyway, that's where we're at right now...back at the drawing board!
Friday, January 8, 2010
Yesterday....
Yesterday was one of those days. Amelie didn't sleep for more than 2 hours at a time the night before, and as it was Thursday, that means that I had been on the night duty for 6 nights in a row. I was utterly exhausted.
And this was the day that Alia did a few things.
First thing in the morning, I knew we were in for a treat of a day. Alia's typical high-energy was at a frenzy level from the time she got up. Getting her out the door to go ride the carousel was a maddening, bargaining frustrating feat of all feats. I had to remind her about a dozen times that we were going to ride the carousel because she wanted to go, that I was not in fact dragging her to some place that I wanted to go. The outing was for her. And she responded by kicking me while putting on her new favorite shoes (the pink and white checked Vans). I put her in the car, got ready to take off and notice Alia is eating something in her carseat. It was, in fact, a four day old quesadilla. Ajay had mentioned that she had eaten a quesadilla in record time on the way home from picking up our dinner the other night, but now it's revealed that the quesadilla was simply stashed in her carseat's convenient side pocket for later consumption. Seriously...that's one of the times as a parent you don't know if you should laugh or throw up. Yeah...so that was the beginning of the day.
Next, after the morning outing, I had planned to sleep when she went down for her big nap, which I can always count on her having at least 90 minutes. My cleaning people were here, so I decided that the best and only quiet place to sleep would be in Alia's room. My plan was that after she went to sleep, I'd sneak in and sleep on the futon. Right? Well, I watched on the monitor as she rolled around for 20 minutes. Finally she was down. I snuck in and every so quietly laid on the futon. This is a maneuver we've done before, by the way. I close my eyes. My mind races, and finally, I fall asleep. And then I hear the hooting and playing. Alia can't see me because I've barricaded her view with pillows, so she has no clue that I'm in the room. She continues to play, and I continue to pray that she'll go back to sleep. For 40 minutes I listen to her play. And then I realize that nap time is over. And I had slept for 8 minutes.
By this time I'm out of my mind tired, and my level of frustration with the day was near the breaking point. Oh, and did I even mention that my cleaning lady's helper managed to break my vacuum, too? Yeah, one of those days. And the bread for my lousy lunch of peanut butter and jelly was stale. And my car is covered in cracker crumbs, juice splatter, and hidden foods. And and and....F@CK!!!! When is it going to end!??????
So, flash forward a few hours later. The girls are asleep. I decided I needed to reboot. Roll up my sleeves. Get down to the brass tacks. Batten down the hatches. Tighten up the whatever you tighten up. Mommy is the captain of this ship...not the various monkeys I am in charge of. I started asking myself a few tough questions.
Why is Alia running around the house like a frenzied tornado?
What does she kick and hit me?
Why is my car splattered with juice, milk, and various types of crumbs?
And why is it okay that she runs around with a bottle dangling from her mouth when she has fallen up the stairs and run into things causing herself injury more than once?
And why is she still going to bed with a bottle of milk when we know better?
And why am I back to coming up with 12 different alternatives per meal in order to please her culinary savvy?
Well, let me tell you why. Because that's what I've taught her to do. Yep. It's my fault, and guess what...there's a new mother effin' sheriff in town.
Today we started a new day. There is no snacking allowed in my car. There is no juice allowed in my car. There are no bottles allowed outside of contained areas...i.e., her high chair or crib, and in the crib there is only water allowed in said bottle. I won't be responsible for ruining those beautiful, perfect white, shiny little baby teeth by letting her sleep the night with a big old milky bottle in her possession. Alia is allowed water in a sippy cup if she chooses to have a drink to run around with because she has to hold onto it and can't carry it in her mouth and possibly knock out her teeth when/if she falls on it.
So. Those are the new rules from the new sheriff. And as I meekly offered her water in a sippy cup instead of juice in a bottle for her morning scamper throughout the house, she, to my surprise, gladly took it and ran off. She came back and asked for juice. I told her she could have juice with her breakfast in her highchair. She replied "Yeah!".
And that my friends, is the silver lining of the worst storm cloud I've had in awhile.
And this was the day that Alia did a few things.
First thing in the morning, I knew we were in for a treat of a day. Alia's typical high-energy was at a frenzy level from the time she got up. Getting her out the door to go ride the carousel was a maddening, bargaining frustrating feat of all feats. I had to remind her about a dozen times that we were going to ride the carousel because she wanted to go, that I was not in fact dragging her to some place that I wanted to go. The outing was for her. And she responded by kicking me while putting on her new favorite shoes (the pink and white checked Vans). I put her in the car, got ready to take off and notice Alia is eating something in her carseat. It was, in fact, a four day old quesadilla. Ajay had mentioned that she had eaten a quesadilla in record time on the way home from picking up our dinner the other night, but now it's revealed that the quesadilla was simply stashed in her carseat's convenient side pocket for later consumption. Seriously...that's one of the times as a parent you don't know if you should laugh or throw up. Yeah...so that was the beginning of the day.
Next, after the morning outing, I had planned to sleep when she went down for her big nap, which I can always count on her having at least 90 minutes. My cleaning people were here, so I decided that the best and only quiet place to sleep would be in Alia's room. My plan was that after she went to sleep, I'd sneak in and sleep on the futon. Right? Well, I watched on the monitor as she rolled around for 20 minutes. Finally she was down. I snuck in and every so quietly laid on the futon. This is a maneuver we've done before, by the way. I close my eyes. My mind races, and finally, I fall asleep. And then I hear the hooting and playing. Alia can't see me because I've barricaded her view with pillows, so she has no clue that I'm in the room. She continues to play, and I continue to pray that she'll go back to sleep. For 40 minutes I listen to her play. And then I realize that nap time is over. And I had slept for 8 minutes.
By this time I'm out of my mind tired, and my level of frustration with the day was near the breaking point. Oh, and did I even mention that my cleaning lady's helper managed to break my vacuum, too? Yeah, one of those days. And the bread for my lousy lunch of peanut butter and jelly was stale. And my car is covered in cracker crumbs, juice splatter, and hidden foods. And and and....F@CK!!!! When is it going to end!??????
So, flash forward a few hours later. The girls are asleep. I decided I needed to reboot. Roll up my sleeves. Get down to the brass tacks. Batten down the hatches. Tighten up the whatever you tighten up. Mommy is the captain of this ship...not the various monkeys I am in charge of. I started asking myself a few tough questions.
Why is Alia running around the house like a frenzied tornado?
What does she kick and hit me?
Why is my car splattered with juice, milk, and various types of crumbs?
And why is it okay that she runs around with a bottle dangling from her mouth when she has fallen up the stairs and run into things causing herself injury more than once?
And why is she still going to bed with a bottle of milk when we know better?
And why am I back to coming up with 12 different alternatives per meal in order to please her culinary savvy?
Well, let me tell you why. Because that's what I've taught her to do. Yep. It's my fault, and guess what...there's a new mother effin' sheriff in town.
Today we started a new day. There is no snacking allowed in my car. There is no juice allowed in my car. There are no bottles allowed outside of contained areas...i.e., her high chair or crib, and in the crib there is only water allowed in said bottle. I won't be responsible for ruining those beautiful, perfect white, shiny little baby teeth by letting her sleep the night with a big old milky bottle in her possession. Alia is allowed water in a sippy cup if she chooses to have a drink to run around with because she has to hold onto it and can't carry it in her mouth and possibly knock out her teeth when/if she falls on it.
So. Those are the new rules from the new sheriff. And as I meekly offered her water in a sippy cup instead of juice in a bottle for her morning scamper throughout the house, she, to my surprise, gladly took it and ran off. She came back and asked for juice. I told her she could have juice with her breakfast in her highchair. She replied "Yeah!".
And that my friends, is the silver lining of the worst storm cloud I've had in awhile.
Baby Signing Time
Today it's as if Alia knew that she needed to be sweet.
Today we were sitting side by side watching Baby Signing Time after her breakfast. We got to the part where they teach the sign for pain. There's a little cartoon clip of a frog who is hurting, and he signs that it hurts on his belly, it hurts on his head, it hurts on his arm, etc. Then the cartoon babies put bandaids on all those places and everyone giggles. Then there is a song in the background that talks about making it better with a kiss. It's cute.
So then, Alia grabs her Froggy, lifts up my shirt, and makes kissing noises, and makes her Froggy kiss my incision on my belly button from when I had my gall bladder removed a few weeks ago. And not just one set of kisses...this went on for at least 10 minutes.
And when I signed "thank you" to Alia? She gave me her biggest smile and leaned in for a hug. And this is the girl who will not be hugged!
NOTE:
No, I am not paid to speak of Baby Signing Time. I'm just a Mom who has a baby who LOVES this program.
Today we were sitting side by side watching Baby Signing Time after her breakfast. We got to the part where they teach the sign for pain. There's a little cartoon clip of a frog who is hurting, and he signs that it hurts on his belly, it hurts on his head, it hurts on his arm, etc. Then the cartoon babies put bandaids on all those places and everyone giggles. Then there is a song in the background that talks about making it better with a kiss. It's cute.
So then, Alia grabs her Froggy, lifts up my shirt, and makes kissing noises, and makes her Froggy kiss my incision on my belly button from when I had my gall bladder removed a few weeks ago. And not just one set of kisses...this went on for at least 10 minutes.
And when I signed "thank you" to Alia? She gave me her biggest smile and leaned in for a hug. And this is the girl who will not be hugged!
NOTE:
No, I am not paid to speak of Baby Signing Time. I'm just a Mom who has a baby who LOVES this program.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Amelie is 2 Months old!
At the Lalvani house, things are busy. We're very tired. While I love that my girls are going to grow up so close in age, I sometimes wonder if we weren't a little crazy having babies 15 months apart. I'll probably continue with this thought for a few years.
This month, one thing became very very clear. Amelie is not Alia. They are two totally different girls. We've had to start from scratch on our baby wrangling...even down to how Amelie is soothed is different than Alia. Alia did well with the "Happiest Baby in the Block" method...you basically shoosh directly in the baby's ear while their swaddled, jiggle their head, and pop a binky in their mouth. Alia loved it. Amelie finds it a personal assault. Amelie is her own girl.
Amelie has taken awhile to "wake up". I figure, I had a c-section at 39 weeks. What if she wasn't ready yet...what if by her account, she wanted to arrive at 41 or 42 weeks? Because from what I can tell, she's about 2 or 3 weeks behind where Alia was. Amelie is now lifting her head. She is tracking my voice. Her eyes have recovered from the disconjugate gaze she had for the first 6 weeks (read: both eyes didn't always focus on the same thing when she was tired). Amelie is showing a lot of signs of maturing though.
Before beginning this, I read Alia's two-month progress report. What I saw was two very different babies. As I said before, Amelie is a little slower to "wake up" from her newborn state. She's not as social yet...there's not nearly so much eye contact or engagement, although we're starting to see the beginning of this now. Amelie does not sleep in my bed like Alia did...she sleeps in the swing, bassinet, and even car seat. While I've tried to co-sleep with her just like with Alia, Amelie's little busy hands will not quit until she's broken free of her swaddle, and that's when the little hands slapping my face makes another night's sleep a comical idea. That said, my one on one time with her is nights and weekends, so even the sleepless nights that Amelie is famous for are sometimes bonding, in a sick sick way. That said, physically speaking, Amelie is healthy,gaining weight rapidly, and had her first real smile on New Year's Eve. Although she is a little dazed when watching all the Alia activity, I'm sure she'll be her biggest fan in no time.
Size-wise, Amelie and Alia are neck-'n-neck. I am not quite as concerned with the huge volume that Amelie wants to eat because look at Alia...she did the same, and she's now a healthy and energetic toddler who has burned away much of that baby fat.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Tell me what to do and I'll do it!
So Amelie.
She is my little bitty teeny tiny girl. She is sweetness. She is new. She is beautiful.
She is a cryer.
Take the last few hours for example. If she's awake, she's been crying. She, like her sister, is a big eater. Although they say to formula feed no sooner than every 3 hours and no more than 35 ounces per day, Amelie is rooting at 2 hours. She is delirious and inconsolable by 2 hours 20 minutes. So I feed her. And she's happy...while the bottle is in her mouth and she is actively involved in eating. But when the bottle is finished? It's back to crying.
Is she not getting enough food? Well, good question, but considering she gets 5 ounces for every feed (which gives my pediatrician pause, as it's the maximum to feed a baby before offering solids) I can't imagine she could hold more being just 8 weeks old. Okay, so am I feeding her too much? Good question...but as the Mom, here, I have to rely on my instincts, and my instincts tell me that this girl is every bit as hungry as the food she's eating...she would happily eat nonstop if I let her.
During my 6 week follow up with her pediatrician, I explained that if Amelie is awake, she is likely to be crying. She has a tough time comforting herself...in fact, to date, she has never stopped herself from crying...it always has to be an active intervention by one of us to console her. Not a self-soother. And her crying escalates and escalates very rapidly. She will be purple within 20 seconds of a good cry.
With Alia and Amelie, I've tried to follow the Eat, Play, Sleep model on a three hour cycle. I never felt like it worked so well with Alia, and I'm finding that it isn't working so well with Amelie either (so why am I doing it??? Good question!) Basically Amelie is on her own cycle. She eats. She gets gassy. She lets out burps and gas and cries. While trying to soothe her by bouncing her on an exercise ball (her Godsend, and if you havn't tried this I recommend it for tough babies) she will fall asleep, at which time I'll put her in her swing and she'll sleep anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours, and regardless of how long she's slept, she will wake up crying. She will continue to cry until I feed her...
So please, tell me, my dear Mom readers...what do I do? What am I doing wrong? What am I not doing? Is there any Mommy magic that I don't know about? My pediatrician basically said that Amelie sounds slightly young neurologically and just hasn't figured out how to soothe herself which makes my job very difficult until she does learn. And while I do appreciate that she's suggestion that it's the baby and not me failing as a Mother, I have to ask...can I do more?
She is my little bitty teeny tiny girl. She is sweetness. She is new. She is beautiful.
She is a cryer.
Take the last few hours for example. If she's awake, she's been crying. She, like her sister, is a big eater. Although they say to formula feed no sooner than every 3 hours and no more than 35 ounces per day, Amelie is rooting at 2 hours. She is delirious and inconsolable by 2 hours 20 minutes. So I feed her. And she's happy...while the bottle is in her mouth and she is actively involved in eating. But when the bottle is finished? It's back to crying.
Is she not getting enough food? Well, good question, but considering she gets 5 ounces for every feed (which gives my pediatrician pause, as it's the maximum to feed a baby before offering solids) I can't imagine she could hold more being just 8 weeks old. Okay, so am I feeding her too much? Good question...but as the Mom, here, I have to rely on my instincts, and my instincts tell me that this girl is every bit as hungry as the food she's eating...she would happily eat nonstop if I let her.
During my 6 week follow up with her pediatrician, I explained that if Amelie is awake, she is likely to be crying. She has a tough time comforting herself...in fact, to date, she has never stopped herself from crying...it always has to be an active intervention by one of us to console her. Not a self-soother. And her crying escalates and escalates very rapidly. She will be purple within 20 seconds of a good cry.
With Alia and Amelie, I've tried to follow the Eat, Play, Sleep model on a three hour cycle. I never felt like it worked so well with Alia, and I'm finding that it isn't working so well with Amelie either (so why am I doing it??? Good question!) Basically Amelie is on her own cycle. She eats. She gets gassy. She lets out burps and gas and cries. While trying to soothe her by bouncing her on an exercise ball (her Godsend, and if you havn't tried this I recommend it for tough babies) she will fall asleep, at which time I'll put her in her swing and she'll sleep anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours, and regardless of how long she's slept, she will wake up crying. She will continue to cry until I feed her...
So please, tell me, my dear Mom readers...what do I do? What am I doing wrong? What am I not doing? Is there any Mommy magic that I don't know about? My pediatrician basically said that Amelie sounds slightly young neurologically and just hasn't figured out how to soothe herself which makes my job very difficult until she does learn. And while I do appreciate that she's suggestion that it's the baby and not me failing as a Mother, I have to ask...can I do more?
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