OMG Buster yes, there was a period of time when they were older new infants (like 3/4 months on) where we had to pat their back and go "ssshhhhhh sssshhhh"). Even now, in the car or if they wake up crying a little bit at night, shushing puts them to sleep. But I still get lightheaded from it.
How in the world you did it with three I will never know.
I think HOM parents are mega rockstars. Like, at least way it's 1 kid per hand you know? The logistics you go through every day. I bow to you. BOW TO YOU!
My MIL stayed with us until they were about 7 months old (they had only been home 4 months when she left). The Monday after she left (and I was going to be on my own for the first time) I broke down, told DH there was no way I could do this and he had to stay home FOREVER! My aunt has been a God send too.
I don't miss those days. Individually they are/were good kids/babies but together it can be overwhelming. I don't know how someone could do it on their own.
Saying that, I didn't have kids before this so going from none to three to be is like going from none to one to me.
I have a friend who is pregnant with her second set of triplets. I bow down to her.
Post by TrudyCampbell on Sept 6, 2013 9:25:08 GMT -5
Oh god, I should not have read all of these. I am terrified of having two children.
My worst night was when my H was on a business trip. She would not stop screaming, would not eat, would not sleep, would not anything. I had a friend come over to help me and when she showed up I was crying and topless just trying to get the baby to latch and shut up. My friend ended up leaving after nothing worked and baby continued to scream for hours until she finally fell asleep on my chest in my bed. I had called my out of town H 9 billion times and when he finally called back he said "I just had the best meal of my life!". I've never wanted to murder someone so much in my entire life.
Post by saraandmichael on Sept 6, 2013 9:28:20 GMT -5
i distinctly remember an afternoon when noah was a couple of months old that he would not stop. he was so tired and i'd done everything i knew to do. fed, changed, mylicon drops, more feeding, hold and rock, hold and bounce, walk outside then inside, put him in the swing, in the bouncer, swaddled, fed again. not a damn thing worked. i didn't know what to do and my stepmom (who worked at home and i was living with her and my dad at the time) came into the room to give me a break and bounced him for 45 minutes and he finally fell asleep. i honestly thought i was going to lose my mind that day.
i had a time with evan around the six week mark where for the entire week he was hanging off the boob or crying. i think the most he slept at once was two hours, and that was on a good night. we were on our way back from a hemo appointment when he cried himself out in the car. i was sure he was going to wake up so i brought him inside in the carseat and sat on the couch with such anxiety that he was going to bust out in loud song any moment. i finally closed my eyes and didnt wake up until three hours later when he woke with a vengence because he needed to eat. and then the cycle continued for the next few days. it was during that week that i shouted 'shut the fuck up!' in the middle of the night because i just couldn't take it anymore. i felt like the worst person on earth.
I've blocked the first 6 months from memory, it was that bad. If he was awake, he was screaming for no reason. "Take the baby and get out of the house! You'll feel better! They're so portable and easy at that age!" No. Fuck you. You don't know my lyfe.
I cried a lot. Pretty sure I asked him what the fuck was wrong with him at 2 am. It was ugly. Not my finest moment. I seriously thought we had ruined our lives having a baby.
He's a delightfully happy go lucky easy going kid now though.
God love her, my mom told me this story when DD was a colicky, refluxy baby. My little sister, baby number three for my mom, was a colicky child. On a particularly sleep deprived night, in late October in Michigan my mom placed my sister in her bassinet and drove to the old house that they hadn't sold yet. A house without heat running. She was tired and stressed because they had two mortgages and, well, she was sleep deprived
My dad woke to a crying baby and called the cops asking them to check the old house to see if my mom was there. I guess he was at least intuitive enough to know she was there;). The cops found her, told her to go home and gave my dad a big talking to about "stepping up." In his defense, yes I think he took this message to heart!
It was great to hear that my parents, who I think did a great job raising us , were still overwhelmed with babies after being experienced with them.
OMG S cried every night for an hour or two for a couple of months. We thought she had reflux, she probably did, we did meds which helped but I think she was just a colicky baby. When she grew out of that, we were so relieved, but we took her to our parent's friend's house for dinner one night and of course they all wanted to hold the baby, which she wasn't having any of so she lost her mind. For like 2 hours at dinner while everyone politely tried to ignore the screaming baby that I was walking around the backyard with. She finally passed out for all of 40 minutes and started again, that's when we made our exit.
Will screamed every night from 6pm until about 11:30. I don't know how we made it out alive.
There was one Saturday that DH had to work (rare) and Will had been screaming for four hours straight. Nothing I tried would help.
I called DH and said, "If you don't fucking come home right now, I'm leaving the baby here and running away."
I then hooked myself up to my pump, pumped as fast as I could and had a bottle ready for DH. The second he pulled in the driveway, I hightailed it out of there.
And the my MIL called me while I was gone and gently suggested I had PPD.
She was right.
But for the next week, my mom and MIL took turns staying with me because I could. not. handle. the crying. It made me physically ill.
God love her, my mom told me this story when DD was a colicky, refluxy baby. My little sister, baby number three for my mom, was a colicky child. On a particularly sleep deprived night, in late October in Michigan my mom placed my sister in her bassinet and drove to the old house that they hadn't sold yet. A house without heat running. She was tired and stressed because they had two mortgages and, well, she was sleep deprived
My dad woke to a crying baby and called the cops asking them to check the old house to see if my mom was there. I guess he was at least intuitive enough to know she was there;). The cops found her, told her to go home and gave my dad a big talking to about "stepping up." In his defense, yes I think he took this message to heart!
It was great to hear that my parents, who I think did a great job raising us , were still overwhelmed with babies after being experienced with them.
This needs to be like a new parent parable or something, passed down from parent to parent to parent, through the generations.
Ds was colicky for about 4.5 months. He wailed like a banshee for hours everyday. Around then was when we also started feeding him twice as often (about every hour and a half) and he became a much happier baby.
There were lots of times that DH and I just had to do a baby hand off and go somewhere and freak out.
DD cried uncontrollably from midnight to 5 am, and prolifically during the day for the first 4 or 5 months. I can remember driving half way to Tahoe and back in the middle of the night just to get her to calm down and sleep a bit.
I feel so normal now. So, so normal. I was feeling like a monster being angry at the baby and wanting to run away and stuff.
You are definitely no monster! You know all those ads cautioning against shaking the baby? I had one moment where I realized why those ads exist. DD wouldn't stop crying and I was so tired and I wanted to create the movie scene where you shake the shoulders of the hysterical person and yell "snap out of it!" It scared me shitless and I felt like the worst person possible for even thinking it;(
It's all kind of a blur to me too now, but I do remember H having to drive her around a couple of times late at night to get her to settle down. That was before she started hating the car. lol. Sigh, babies... And then there was a period where I had to walk laps around our house in the evenings, because if I stopped and sat down, she would start crying again.
My kid is in that "person holding me MUST be standing" stage. I can't even lean on the arm of the couch!
This needs to be like a new parent parable or something, passed down from parent to parent to parent, through the generations.
No shit! I was raised by Tom and Carol Brady, so realizing that Carol Brady could lose her shit and Tom could be lectured by a cop about Fatherhood was particularly mind blowing.
You know what sucks about the crying? I love her. I know something is bothering her and she can't use words to tell me and I love her and don't want to see her sad and upset.
It's all kind of a blur to me too now, but I do remember H having to drive her around a couple of times late at night to get her to settle down. That was before she started hating the car. lol. Sigh, babies... And then there was a period where I had to walk laps around our house in the evenings, because if I stopped and sat down, she would start crying again.
My kid is in that "person holding me MUST be standing" stage. I can't even lean on the arm of the couch!
This was the worst!! I remember walking and bouncing for EVER then thinking, I'll just perch on this barstool, she won't know. Instant screaming.
Both of them were colicky. The first few months are a giant haze of screaming.
I got very good at holding one and bouncing on the yoga ball while jiggling the other in her car seat with my foot.
The worst day I can remember, I was at the absolute end of my rope. I put them both in the car, put my headphones on and drove back and forth on winding backroads tapping the brakes constantly to bounce them. I drove for over 2 hours until H came home.
M started her witching hour phase at about 3 weeks old. At 5pm on the dot, she would start screaming and was just inconsolable. I tried everything - bouncing, rocking, nursing, bottle feeding, paci, swing, white noise, walking, swaddling, omg everything. She would usually keep screaming until 8 or 9pm. I actually lived in fear every day of 5:00.
The 6 week growth spurt damn near killed me. I remember the Sunday after she turned 6 weeks, she woke up at 7 that morning, ate and napped until 9, then was up ALL DAY. Cried all day long with no relief in sight. Refused to sleep at all. My mom was visiting and she tried to help soothe her, my husband tried, I tried, and we all failed. At 9pm, she was still wide awake, but her eyes were red and puffy and so heavy because she was so tired. She finally fell asleep around 1am and when I knew she was out, I just cried and cried.
Mine is sleep deprived, but my first shower home from the hospital I was like "Why does this feel weird? Hm, must be a birth thing." It seriously took me five minutes to realize I had left my sports bra on. And my glasses. Wtfwtf.
Haha, I know, I am not sure why I am in this thread, I need to back away fast!!!
The newborn cry can still give me anxiety
Me too and I am 15 months out from having a newborn.
I hear it in a public place and I get all sick stomachy feeling. SOMEONE HELP THAT POOR BABY. OMG WHY IS IT CRYING.
I'm 23 months out and same here. I've almost started crying in sympathy when I've heard that cry in public. And it's not only the baby I want to help, it's mom, too.
I don't really remember much with Sofia. She just cried and cried, refused to nurse. She cried for the FIRST 6 MONTHS and hated nursing. The crying stopped when we switched to formula.
Theo is a completely different baby. He definitely had his few weeks of crying, though. My h left for work when Theo was 2 weeks old, so it was just me, Sofia, and a newborn baby. I spent many, many nights walking for hours on end. Then waking up at 3 am to walk with him some more because it was the only thing that would make him sleep. That lasted until he was about 10 ish weeks.
Otter, read this if/when you get a spare three minutes. I read it in the throes of a horrible, horrible crying spell and it made me almost die from laughing just because I related to everything.
Post by SusanBAnthony on Sept 6, 2013 10:28:47 GMT -5
DD was the worst baby ever. DS was bad, but his was limited to being on the boob from 5-9 pm straight. Now that sucked, but I got some high quality nest time in, so whatever.
DD "woke up" at 3 weeks, and screamed pretty much nonstop until 6 months old. Walking around with her outside usually helped, and I remember in the fall, thinking to myself "what the ever loving fuck am I going to do this winter?". Luckily she grew out of it by winter. She pretty much lived in a wrap, I had to wear her all.the.time. It sucked so much, and majorly influenced the fact that we don't have a third kid. If I had happy belies who slept at night, we would for sure have a third.
You know what sucks about the crying? I love her. I know something is bothering her and she can't use words to tell me and I love her and don't want to see her sad and upset.
yep, exactly. and please don't feel bad all mom's go through that feeling and frustration. Just remember you and she are both fifuring this out and before you onow it this phase'll pass and it'll be easier.
For me There was one morning where nothing was making DD happy and after 3 hrs I called my DH to take lunch early and come give me a break.