Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Where Is My Contented Baby?

Where oh where has my contented little baby gone? Someone please let me know if you find him.....PLEASE!

Since Noah's birth, Daddy and Papa have been following the contented baby routine by Gina Ford and it has worked a treat for us & Noah. That is, until around six weeks ago when we returned from Melbourne. The weather in Australia this year has been all over the place, unseasonably cold and then hot, cold again, snow today, heat wave tomorrow and since our fateful return flight from Melbourne to Sydney late October, our little man has been the discontented baby. Gina Ford help me! In an ideal world, at just over eight months old Noah's routine should read something similar to the following;

7am

Happily awake in his bed waiting for Daddy or Papa to come down & greet him for the morning. Sing a Disney'esque song whilst changing nappies handed to us by cute little blue birds. This is followed by a morning bottle and 1 weet bix mashed with a little banana. We usually play a little and read a book, then depending on where Noah is spending the day, either madly rush around getting ready for work or laze about in our PJs for a while.

9.00am

Morning sleep until 10.30am

10.30am

Awake from our morning sleep and again happily chatting to himself waiting for his parents.

11.00am

Morning Tea which now consists of 1/4 mango sliced, 3 lychees and a bit of banana

12noon

Lunch time bottle and solids (100gms) of what ever I have made the week prior and is in the freezer.

2.30pm

Afternoon sleep until 4.00pm

4.00pm

Awake again waiting for Daddy & Papa with some play time until 5pm when it's time for a bath. We have our dinner (100gms of solid food) around 5.30pm and a night time bottle between 6.15-6.30pm.

7.00pm

Blissfully and peacefully drift off to sleep without crying or distress whatsoever.


The above routine was our reality from three months of age until six months of age with the occasional and I mean very occasional wake here and there. Noah was sleeping through the night and was the picture perfect contented baby. I don't know what happened. From what I hear, what we are experiencing is normal and we simply have to grin and bear it. Below is an idea of 48 hours recently when we visited Great Grandma & Great Pop.

10DEC - 6pm to bed

11DEC - 3am-3.50am awake, screaming and nothing would pacify or soothe him
6am awake for breakfast bottle and solid food
8am-8.30am asleep in the car
10.45am lunch and bottle
11am-1.30pm afternoon sleep
5.30pm dinner and bottle
7.15pm put to bed and cried until 7.50pm eventually giving in to sleep

12DEC - 12.15am / 3.00am / 5.00am waking at different times through the night
6am breakfast bottle and solid food
8.50am-10.20am morning sleep
10.45am morning tea of banana, apple and cinnamon puree
12noon lunch and bottle
2.40pm-4pm afternoon sleep
5pm dinner and bottle
6.40pm-10.30pm asleep in the car on our way home
10.30pm-11.35pm cried and cried. Changed nappy and gave another bottle to
calm and sooth

13DEC - 5.45am awake

Noah is taking 200ml of formula four times a day and each solid feed is around 100-150gms depending on whether or not he is hungry.

It could be teeth, he quite distinctly has two teeth still coming through. Could it be his ears? A friend suggested we take him to the DR to check on his ears as maybe swimming or the pool has given him an ear infection. Turns out that the DR could not see either ear drum as they were blocked with wax - yuck! Papa has not wanted to over clean Noah's ears so they have been getting done once a month, this obviously has to be looked at. So, is it his ears causing discomfort and that is why every time we now lay him in his cot he turns into the devil child? My poor darling, I wish I spoke baby, tell me what is wrong!!! We have been dropping olive oil into his ears twice daily in the hope of softening the wax and we are headed back to the DR tomorrow for a follow up and if there is no improvement I am demanding they do something for him. So perhaps it is simply a combination of teething, sore ears & summer heat causing our angel to be so restless. One glimmer of hope though, he slept through again last night!

4 comments:

  1. I vote teething! Have you tried giving him baby acetaminaphen (spelling???) when he wakes up at night? Teething also causes lots of drool and runny nose, so it can make you think he's sick when all it is just pain.

    BTW, Micah ate a TON of sand and dirt at that age. I don't know why they don't realize how bad it tastes, compared to the yummy food we serve them!

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  2. Oh the poor dear, and Oh so poor Daddies. Let's hope this is short lived. A schedule is SO good and such a God-send. You are doing great! Keeping fingers crossed he will be back into his perfect little routine.

    Big hugs to all 3 of ya.

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  4. baby motto... routine's are made to be broken. it's the parents who have to adjust. my daughter amazed me the other day when she said, "i see a pattern" first we get up, go to the bathroom, brush our teeth..." Yes! however she's 5 years old. so be patient, one day it will happen

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