... he is not happy and angelic all the time. For the last few days he's been having a fussy period in the evenings, lasting from about 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. We've also had a couple of nights when he won't go back to sleep after the 3:00 a.m. feeding, and it takes maybe 45 minutes to get him calmed down again. In those 45 minutes, I have employed every single comforting method I have read about, and attempted a few of my own. He likes being bounced and jiggled, he responds well to swaddling and shushing, and he thinks the exhaust fan in the bathroom is God.
I've tried singing to him as well. One thing I never anticipated when preparing for fatherhood was the need to memorize song lyrics. At 3:00 a.m., you forget them. For some reason I tried "American Pie" first, which was one of my first favorite songs. The chorus is easy enough, but then you get into the whole "do you believe in rock 'n' roll and can music save your mortal soul" part and it's easy to get lost.
I hit on "Hey, Jude" next, but before I knew it I was in the "na na na na na" part, and that's not very satisfying. Finally, my addled brain settled on one song that I know cold, without having to think about. That's how I ended up singing "The Star Spangled Banner" to Conrad over and over again. If he grows up to be president, we'll know where it all started.
3 comments:
Three things:
One: The evening fussy doesn't go away. With Ellie, it's overstimulation from a full day of stimuli. Gotta turn down the lights and talk soft at night for her, at least.
Two: The magic combination for Ellie is swaddle, shush, turn on his side, and rock her. She goes out like a light with that combo.
Three: that lyrics problem is the reason I ended up singing "I wanna be sedated" to Ellie as her first lullaby. Couldn't remember a damn other thing.
Fussy period...yeah, that's rough. I feel your pain. Or at least we felt it in 2006. I found that playing the piano while wearing Charlotte in the sling worked great. Jeff liked the snug swaddle - rock while I stand and sway. Probably not the issue, but pay attention to what you're eating Jean. You may end up finding that there are some things that don't sit well with Conrad. For Charlotte it was things like too much OJ, dairy, or cauliflower. Who knows. It just may be mystery fussiness that has no actual cause.
Heh. I used to try to get hubby to sing all the time, and he never would. Til we had a kid to sing to.
And, in regards to unsolicited parenting advice: the vacuum and baby carrier was magic for us. Plus the floors stayed clean.
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