It’s like Jurassic Park around here July 9, 2008
Posted by erinfrances in The baby.Tags: baby, colic, motherhood
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“I’m calling about my daughter … yeah, I called a couple times this week already,” Dave said on the phone to the nurse at the doctor’s office, because I couldn’t hold it together long enough to describe her symptoms to anyone. “She just screams nonstop. And it’s not like a cry. It’s a shriek and it sounds like a raptor. A dinosaur.”
Perhaps “Jurassic Park-like screams” are the keywords to getting an appointment with the pediatrician first thing tomorrow morning. Or maybe it was my own raptor-like crying in the background (not really true; I’m more of a whimperer) that got the receptionist’s attention. Either way … I’m hoping the nurse tomorrow doesn’t just laugh at us and tell us “yup, that’d be colic.”
I mean, the least she can do is hand me a tissue and pretend to get all Nancy Drew on the case before she dooms me to admit defeat.
Just be prepared…you may get in there and your screaming baby might just find THAT to be the time to be an angel….a typical behavior of our daughter!!!! Which only made it all that worse. I KNEW the dr. and nurse were thinking I was making things up and over reacting….but YOU ARE NOT. No matter what they tell you, trust your instinct. I will check in again tomorrow because I am very curious to know what they tell you and what they suggest!!!
PS….just a thought, do you elevate her when she sleeps? We did have this baby wedge thing that we put under our daughter when she slept, another thing that was supposed to help with the reflux and all that…not a problem solver immediately, but did help over time! Everything was “over time” I HATED that, HATED HATED HATED that saying. And everyone said it. And I wanted to scream at them that no it won’t and why can’t it now….and some days, I DID!!!!!
Who ARE all these people on the Internet who say things helped instantly? Nothing ever works instantly for us, either, which is maddening, too.
Well, I can’t saying “nothing ever works instantly.” This occasionally works instantly but, really, only sometimes: http://freewhitenoisesounds.googlepages.com/mixer.wav.
I had to come over and tell you that a womb sounds CD (the one I got was called Transitions, from Amazon.com) worked wonders.
Finding the anti-colic cocktail seems to be different for everyone, though.
Usually there is a song that works, too. I, for some reason, listened to a lot of Reggaeton during my pregnancy workouts. The Dervish simmered down to anything spanish-language, preferably anything with profane lyrics. What music did you listen to while pg? It’s worth a shot.
And the cry is unmistakeable, unfortunately.
My pedi said “normal fussiness” and when we switched pedis, I found “very colicky” scrawled throughout the pages. Grrr.
I wish you lots of luck and hope you get answers. Evan was a horrid baby, just horrid awful. Plus dealing with stupid NPs at the time telling me I was just a tired single mother…Finally I gathered an army of my mom, an aunt and cousin up from St. Louis that were visiting and we stormed (well I had an appointment) the office…I was able to bypass the snooty NP and see the pedi, and she listened…after 5 formula changes and trips to Madison for every possible test, he finally stopped being horrid. I guess the point is, you know Alice, and you both can’t go on like this…miserable…I promise it will get better, I can’t tell you when, but it will. Now at 14 he is a different horrid.
“What music did you listen to while pg? ”
Break out the Death Cab for Cutie. Alice will probably love that Ryan Cabbara guy too.
(Was any of that right? I’m so not cool.)
Death Cab, good. Ryan Cabbara, bad. Or however you spell that.
Annelise was not colicky, but she fought sleep like crazy. Sometimes I would run the blow dryer for her and she’d fall right asleep.
She also slept in a bouncy seat for the first 3 months. She had reflux and sleeping a little more upright helped. Plus, it vibrated and that put her to sleep right away.
Whoever said that it takes awhile to figure out the “anti colic cocktail” is right. Good for you for trusting your gut and taking her to the doctor too. Good luck!
we were on a playdate the other day and the other baby started laughing. The mother rushed over and swooped her baby up and hugged her, wanting to know what was making her cry so hard.
I swear to God I thought the baby was laughing. Some mothers have no idea what it is like to have a truly fussy baby. They have never had to listen to hour upon hour of screaming. They have never had a collection of mylicon drops, gripe water, axid, sleep incliners and a bazillion other things “guaranteed” to help.
I can’t wait to have another child but I am never doing the first three months again.
Derek had reflux too. He would spit up and it would fly across the room. They did an ultrasound of his belly and found it. He too would tighten up so stiff like he was in pain. Reading your blog and describing Alice’s cries – I would say there is something more wrong (like maybe reflux). Like Jane said, trust your instincts. If you think there is something else going on there probably is. MAKE the Dr. understand. DEMAND they do some sort of testing. If Alice clearly had a broken bone or something and the Dr. said “oh it’s nothing” you would demand they do something right? This is the same situation. You’re the boss of that little girl. BE THE BOSS! Okay – enough preaching. I told Dave last night that you too should come over sometime to hang out. I would love for you to do that! My David works a lot of night shifts and I know how lonely it can be. Especially when you don’t have anyone to talk back to you. Hang in there kiddo. I know – easier said than done