Tuesday, January 6

Any Advice?

For about the last 2 weeks, baby Riddick has developed a new hobby. He has decided that he likes to exercise his lungs. Whether he is perfectly content, frustrated, fighting a nap, or hungry he likes to listen to himself scream in the higher octaves for as long as his little lungs with let him. At first he only did this when he was frustrated, but now he does it while playing on the floor with toys, rolling around, or playing right side up in his exer-saucer. There have been times where it even startles Hunter. I wonder if the screaming gets so high the neighborhood dogs' ears are hurting. I already have to wear ear plugs at night to get ANY sleep with this little guy because he is such a restless little sleeper, but now do I have to during the day? Yesterday while I was cooking dinner in the kitchen, I lefft him in his exer-saucer and would check on him periodically, but my goodness his screams were terrible! I popped in the Ipod earphones and turned the Beyonce on as high as my ears could stand it, and enough to barely hear the screams. I don't know how much more I can take! Does anyone have any suggestions? It's so bad that even Brandon has to turn his hearing aid off completely, or it barely registers the high pitches of the screams! I am not exaggerating! Any help is greatly appreciated! If there is nothing I can do, hopefully this is just a phase!

3 comments:

James and Lauren said...

is it his tummy maybe? you might try "gripe water" in his bottles...

Kurt & Rachel Keyser said...

How old is he again? Could he be teething? Logan lived on baby tylenol for a few months.

I think he's too old to have colic. But he's a website with some ideas:

http://hcd2.bupa.co.uk/fact_sheets/Mosby_factsheets/infant_colic.html

My friend swears by the book "Secrets of the Baby Whisperer".

Tanya Wilde said...

You poor thing! I was catching up on my reading with your blog, and oh my goodness!! It's one thing to raise a child from the day they are born, but another thing to do it at 2 (which is a HORRIBLE age) and 6 months (also a milestone age.) I have a 5, 4, 2, and 3 month old, and it's very hard for me, but I've been doing it for 6 years. Seriously, my heart goes out to you! If you're sure the baby isn't sick or has something wrong with him, then it really is one of those milestone things where they learn to be self-contained and usually have to scream it out. Check on him periodically so he knows he's not alone, but he'll get over it eventually. Some parents baby their kids so much at that age and cater to their every whimper, and they turn into terrible 2 year old brats that are used to getting everything they want. It's also hard for you especially, because you don't know how he was raised before and that could have a lot to do with his mannerisms too...but you're doing the right thing. There are SO many milestones for kids at different ages...the 2 year old one is pretty bad. My 2 year old now went from sweetest thing on the earth to little hellian and I couldn't stand him! The poop thing was pretty funny...that's never happened to me, but other things like playing and flooding the toilet, taking diapers off, putting poop in hair, and my 2 year old especially loves putting things in his hair. We've been counting, and it's over 20 different things now. (: Drives me crazy, but that's motherhood! You'll get used to it, and you're such an angel for helping these boys out and raising them. Honestly, every kid is different, and they all have different needs and personalities, and there is NO book out there about how to be the perfect parent, because the perfect parent doesn't exist! It really is just trial and error. I have 4 kids, and I still don't know a lot of things and have to ask people for help. I spent (and still do occasionally) a lot of moments locked in my closet crying just to pull myself together, or soaking in a bath at the end of the day...crying too, Lol. You have good motherly instincts, so don't beat yourself up over anything and just know that at the end of the day, the boys are still alive, and love you and that's really all that matters. (: