I thought for sure the newborn fussies had returned to our house last night. I nursed Anne as soon as I got home, per usual, and she fell asleep on my lap. I let her stay there for about a half an hour before I had to get up to go start chores. When she woke up, she was a super cranky baby who would not. stop. whining. or crying. for anything!!!
Kristian and I were practically at our wits end trying to find something that would make her happy. Me holding her didn't work. Kristian holding her didn't work. Toys didn't help. Kitties didn't help. Walking her around the house didn't help. Letting her ride on Kristian's back like a pony helped for about 2 minutes before she was unhappy again (and probably only worked at all because it was something new). She didn't want to nurse either, which is my usual go-to solution. I wanted to pull my hair out. Kristian and I looked at each other, both with lost and helpless expressions on our faces.
Settling in for a night of dealing with Super Cranky Girl, we nixed the idea of me even trying to cook dinner and heated up some pre-packaged soup we keep on hand for "emergencies" (read : usually when I'm too lazy to cook, but they come in handy for nights like this too). I fed some soup to Anne, who inhaled it like she was starving. We finished dinner, and lo and behold we had a happy baby again.
She was hungry. For food. Not breastmilk, but actual food!! This was a first. If only we had known that was the solution, I would have happily made dinner the second she woke up! Sigh. Yay parenting!
Our 9 month old at the daycare (the owner's daughter) has recently started this too. I felt kind of bad that we had to play 20 questions with her too before figuring out that she would please like for someone to feed her some food. Whoops! Now we know however she does seem to be getting more cranky now but I think a lot of it is being frustrated that we don't understand what it is she wants right away. There is so much more that they can possibly want and need now it gets harder. I think you mentioned doing sign language with her. I read recently that starting at 9 months is good because they can grasp it a lot easier and sign back to you as well. Zaria (our little 9 month old) has been making up her own signs. Once I figure out what they are I repeat the motion she made and then do what it is she wants. It seems to be helping with her frustration at not being able to communicate what it is she needs to us.
ReplyDeleteSllliiiggghhhtly off topic...
ReplyDeleteI know I've pointed you to this blog on several occasions but I don't know if you really follow her...
All last week and yesterday Joanne, from A Cup of Jo, had a series going about balancing work and motherhood between several different women. It was really interesting reading - especially hers yesterday: http://joannagoddard.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-balance-of-workbabylife.html .
I thought you might enjoy reading them especially since they mention some of the surprises in parenting. (Start at the previous week and work your way forward though.)
Hope you like it!
Oooh, Kat, thanks! I used to follow her, but she posts A LOT and it's a lot of stuff I don't care to read; I only really like her parenting stuff. Thanks for pointing it out, I'll go read it!
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks, Heather, for the suggestion for signing. I've heard of it but haven't had time to work with it yet...maybe it would be a good thing though! lol
It definitely helps and although I know we as mother's ideally would like to teach our kids American Sign Language, if she makes up her own go with it. It actually helps to develop communication skills much better than speech alone. It will help when she is a toddler and gets too excited or frustrated for words too. :)
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