the happiest baby?

Yesterday was the 6 week mark and to be frankly honest, they have been a very hard 6 weeks.  The excitement of the holidays helped keep eafloat despite my lowered expectations.  (Side note:  I'm one of those people who has very high expectations of special occasions and I find myself either disappointed or falling into a slight depression when things are over or don't go my way).  So Christmas came and went and we are now in the new year of 2013.  The good news is that Ty's nights have finally improved.  He's been sleeping for some longer stretches, allowing momma to sleep too, and I've had the comfort of being in my own bed instead of on the couch.  I've also had a couple nights in there where my mom or sister has helped by giving him a bottle of breastmilk for one nighttime feeding and letting me sleep through it.  It's amazing how refreshed even 5 consecutive hours of sleep can make a person feel.  On the down side, it seemed that while his nights improved his days got worse.  He would cry and fuss all day long unless I was holding him and often times while I was holding him I couldn't calm him down.  On Christmas day he was showing obvious signs of reflux and cried for 4-5 hours off and on.  That combined with toddler tantrums made for a Christmas I will surely remember.  So the very next day I took him to the pediatrician to discuss it.  We left with a prescription for zantac.  I kept waiting for some wonderful change to occur that I didn't see happening and I was starting to lose my mind.  My poor baby would just cry and I didn't know how to stop it.  Meanwhile I've been reading The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp which discusses theories behind what causes colic in young babies and how to calm them.  And just when I was about to give up, something clicked with little Ty and me.  Like the fact that it's almost 11 am and he's calmly sleeping IN HIS CRIB.  If you are struggling with a colicky babe I strongly recommend you read this book or watch the DVD.  I'm so glad it was recommended to me.  The swaddling takes practice and I am still working on it, but it's been like magic.  If he's really worked up I may not be able to put him down but he'll at least stop crying while I'm holding him.

Here's an idea of how this has worked on two separate occasions...

 

And now he's woken up from his little nap and is probably hungry so I must go.  I see happier, calmer days in our future though.  :)