On turning a corner

To all the mothers out there who told me the second baby would be easy, shame on you. Just kidding. (Sort of.) The past eleven weeks have been anything but easy.

Miss M, as it would seem, is an entirely unpredictable babe. She is very fussy, and it seems to be stomach-related; we think she's lactose-intolerant, or possibly has a milk protein allergy. At the beginning of December, I cut out all dairy for six days, then went back on it for a day, and determined that no further testing would be necessary at that point. For the day and a half following my dairy intake, she was miserable and screamed almost constantly.

The thing is, even though I've been off dairy (mostly... a girl sometimes just needs to eat cheese), she still gets upset at random times, and for no apparent reason. We can often get her to calm down by walking around and bouncing her. But if we can't settle her down, she'll scream until she just gets beyond herself. And it's a pain-related cry, not just the grousing that can be allayed with a feed, a change, a pacifier. M will outright reject breastfeeding when she gets like that, even though she must be hungry. A couple of days this week, she barely fed for hours on end. I remember with D, she could almost always be calmed by nursing, unless we were in the car. Oh, the scream-filled drives we endured! At least M is a pretty happy traveller.

Last week, at our last midwife appointment, M had one of her screaming fits, and the midwife recommended Cocyntal, a homeopathic remedy. It was very easy to administer, and M is not a baby who suffers medicine gladly. She was deeply mistrustful of me for hours after I gave her post-vaccination Tylenol, and I'm her food source! So we tried the remedy, and it seems to be working for now. Today, she has only had two screaming fits (or maybe three), and every time she calmed down after one dose. I hope this continues (the immediate soothing, not the fits); we need to turn a corner with this colic business soon.

We also think that M is a bit of a homebody. She doesn't mind going out, as long as it's limited to one trip per day. If she gets shunted around multiple unfamiliar places, she gets unpleasant, to put it mildly. That should make this weekend interesting: we're driving to Windsor to visit family and attend the Detroit auto show. (The latter is applicable only to my dad and sister Rach.)

For the moment, Hubby is out at Bible study, D is in bed, and M has nursed and is asleep in her swing. I will be enjoying apple sharlotka and my nearly-completed Damask. It's a good thing M is so cute. Look at the smile we're treated to when she's happy.