Before I even start, I know I'm a decent mother, I'm not really posting this to get all kinds of sweet encouragement (although I'll take it!), just a story in the life of a new and learning mom!
I've bragged before about how good Jack is. He is just a stellar baby! Great sleeper, loves his bottle, smiles at everyone, is even beginning to laugh! He tolerates being toted around town like a pro and I swear he loves cruising the isles with me at Target. Going down for a nap is painless and going down at night is a cinch! He does not fuss unless he's tired or hungry. And this is what I was telling Jeff last night. He is so good!! We're so blessed, I'm a little fearful of what #2 will be like!
Today started like any other day. Actually, Jack slept in until 7:30, which is a small treat since he's usually up at 7am like clock work. See? He's so good! Anyways, up and smiling, he took his bottle like a pro! I got him dressed in his adorable new outfit from his cousins and slipped on his brand spankin' new socks. I was excited because the outfit fit, and we've barely found socks that fit his skis and these new socks do! What a great start to the day. He was down for a nap at 9 as usual. He woke up a little early, but that's no surprise because Gwen was here this morning, and sometimes she wakes him up. Not that I'm complaining! You know I love Gwen!
Anyways, he was up at about 10, which is a pretty short nap for him. He's almost 4 months, and I've been reading that their sleep schedule will change soon, that he'll go from 3 naps to 2, so I was thinking that maybe this is just the beginning of his changing schedule or something! He looked tired around 11:00, so I swaddled the little bugger and put him in his Lovely Lamb swing for a little nap before he was scheduled to eat at noon. Jeff was home so I headed to Babies R Us to stock up on 3+ month pacifiers and bottle nipples (which I was super excited about! Oh, how life changes!).
I came home at about 12:30 and he was up and at 'em! Jeff said he'd slept for all of 45 minutes. Strange. Jeff heads out for a meeting, and he was looking sleepy so I put him down. Weeeeeeeell, he was having none of it. And by none of it, my sweet little easy napper was fussing and crying like he was ready to get up and mad about it! As I said, he doesn't do this! So, I thought, well, maybe I misread his signs and he's not tired...part of the new sleep schedule? Oh, I let him fuss and cry for a bit, but nothing was happening! He wasn't drifting off or anything! Just crying like someone took his puppy! Mom was here so I got him up and they played for a bit...until he started fussing and looking tired again...swaddled and in swing...crying like a banshee. Really? Ok, so this goes on and on...all afternoon...fussy and looking sleepy, swaddled, in his swing, crying like a mother. What the heck!!!! What happened to my sweet baby boy!!! I'd also read about the 4th month wakeful period...was this it?
Then we thought he might be teething. Sure it's early, but Jack is soooooo advanced, maybe he's teething early! We got out the teething rings, I put some in the freezer for him to try later...we had a vibrating teether that a friend gave us, so we got that out to try...nothing.
Jeff got him to sleep once and he slept for about 20 minutes, I got him to sleep once and he slept for about 10 minutes, but that was it! Of course, we're worried. What if something was wrong? Nothing in the bag of tricks was working! I gave him some Tylenol, we'd given him Gripe Water (which I swear cures all kinds of ailments!) and nothing was working! If this was how the 4th month was going to go, I guess we were going to have to baton down the hatches for a month!
This goes on and on until bath time at 7:30. Yes, he's been up basically ALL DAY LONG! We were pretty much at our wits end. Jeff's getting the water ready while I undressed him and put him in the tub. Jeff's bathing him and notices a little ring around his calf. Like you would see when your sock's too tight, and it's cutting into your skin all day long, cutting off your circulation and causing you pain. Really? Could this be it? Could this be the culprit? Is this why my sweet baby turned into a sleepless psycho baby today?
We finish the bath, give him his night time bottle and swaddle him up, put him in bed. He's been sleeping soundly ever since. I feel terrible. My poor baby had been in pain all day long!! And I didn't even think about checking out his socks? Now realistically, I know it's not crazy that I didn't think to check to see how tight his socks were...but how could I not think to check how tight his socks were!!!
So, lesson learned. If your baby is crying, check his socks. I think for the rest of Jack's life, any time he's upset or in a fussy mood, I'll ask him if his socks are too tight.
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