New Challenges

The first couple of weeks seemed so easy. We did figure out diaper time - a blow dryer! The white noise completely chills him out and on low heat it dries him right off.

But now the new challenge is the screaming. In the first few weeks if we responded to his cues in time, he rarely cried, even when throwing up a bellyful of milk. But for the past several days he has cried straight for about two hours every night, just before our collective bedtime. We've tried putting him to bed earlier or later, and encouraging him to sleep more or less in the period preceding. But the screaming continues, and D and I pass him off between each other while bickering about which of us needs the sleep more, D who gets up at 5 for work, or me who hasn't had more than 3 hours uninterrupted sleep since the birth day. Unfortunately the crying happens at a time when we are all sort of tired and cranky. There's no consistent pattern to what gets him to eventually nod off, could be shushing, feeding, burping etc.

I guess the one thing that keeps us sort of sane is remembering that he does have a reason - who knows, maybe he has a headache? Maybe he's scared? And D reminds me "the fussy ones are the bright ones!"

Also, while he used to be content to hang out in his bassinette for naps during the day, he now will not sleep unless he is held. I actually napped with him in a sling today, a rather acrobatic feat. He's snuggled up in there right now, his little hands curled up over his mouth, snoring away.

A first child really is wondrous thing - I can devote all my time and attention to figuring out what his needs are. I just can't picture how it works when you have more than one!

Anyhow, LM stirs, so I must go.