Another Reason Why Baby Might Be Crying

Our little Sweetie Bum doesn't ever seriously cry for no apparent reason, so a while back when he was really crying while feeding, I tried figuring out what the problem was since he never cries like that at feeding time.

And I found out what the problem was, and as soon as I fixed the it he quit crying and happily carried on with his meal.  :)

Turns out all I needed to do was un-tie the buttons around his nappy area because it seems things were too tight down there!  I didn't realize it of course, I just thought it was a snug fit, but when the nappy got wet and it puffed up, it made things too tight and he didn't like it.  It was time to get some new clothes as he was definitely starting to outgrow his first set of clothes!  :)

Since that was the first time it happened, I wasn't sure if it was what I did that made him feel better or if he just stopped crying at the same time by coincidence, so I didn't think much of it afterwards, but when the same thing happened again the other day (with a different outfit!) I was convinced I did actually solve the problem.

So next time your baby cries and you dunno why, remember this!  :)

How We Soothe a Crying Baby

Little Aidan is almost 2 months old . . . how did time go so fast?!?!  Anyway, I'm glad to say that we've figured out this soothing thing pretty good.  :)  It's seldom that he cries for more than a few minutes because we always manage to fix the "problem".  Here's how we do it!

• First we check if he's hungry.  Usually we know more or less if the crying is because of hunger because we know he eats about every 2 - 3 hours on average, but to make sure we pat a finger on the area between his mouth and nose and he'll open his mouth as if to grab a teat.  You can also touch his cheek on either side of his mouth and he'll move to that side and open his mouth also as if to take a teat - it's called a rooting reflex.  Usually before he starts crying for food he'll also show us he's hungry by making a cute little fist and swooshing it past his nose or making a cute little pouting thing with his mouth - yes, EVERYTHING he does is cute!  I don't know if these last 2 things are something all babies do or if it's just Aidan that does it, but we've recognized them as his way of saying "I'm hungry!".

• If we don't see any sign that he's hungry, and he's just recently finished feeding, then we'll try to burp him.  We put him on our knee and gently bounce him quickly for a little while and then pat his back for a bit while he leans a little forward and then go back to bouncing etc until we get a burp. Sometimes when we just sit him up after a feeding he'll burp on his own, but mostly we have to work a bit to get that burp.

Trying to get rid of that burpie:

 

• If it's neither of the above things, then we change his nappy (provided he hasn't *just* had a nappy change).

•  Sometimes he still cries and then it seems all he wants is to be held and then he calms down or falls asleep.  If he also seems to be crying for no reason that we can tell, or he's crying while he's waiting for his food to be prepared, then we put him up over our shoulder and that seems to keep him happy and cry-free for quite a while.

•  If he's laying down and there's no obvious problem like hunger or burp or dirty nappy and we're trying to get him to stop crying and get to sleep, we turn him on his side and rub his back - this usually works pretty well if there's none of the above issues!  Soon he'll calm down and fall asleep.  Patting his bum also seems to do the same trick while laying on his side.  Sometimes we'll also make a loud "ssshhh" sound to calm him down and that has worked really well too!  Apparently they find it soothing because it sounds similar to what he hears inside the womb.  What Noob Dad has done is download sounds like white noise or rain etc and we'll play that to him to help soothe him to sleep as well.

• Another thing that really works to calm him down is swaddling - to snugly wrap him up in a blankie.  This is to make him feel secure so that he doesn't get disturbed by the little jerks babies make (called the startle reflex), or to comfort him so that he calms down or falls asleep, because he's all snug like he used to be in the womb and that makes him feel secure.  You should use a light blankie, not a thick one so that he doesn't overheat (swaddling should in any case not be used as a way to keep baby warm, and you shouldn't wrap him too tightly so that his circulation is cut off, or that his legs are pinned straight out as this may cause hip problems - his legs should be bent up as he naturally lies and he should be allowed to move his legs slightly.  Some babies don't like to have their arms tucked in, so you can swaddle him under his arms, and some babies don't like to be swaddled at all.  And one needs to make sure that his face isn't covered up so that he can breathe freely!  Swaddling should also be discontinued once he reaches about 1 month of age as it may interfere with his movement and development.  Here's how it's done:

Cute little bundle!

• On the odd occasion when he's a little whiny we'll give him a dummy (pacifier) and that'll keep him quiet and sometimes he'll soon fall asleep too.

•  And if there's nothing really big bothering him, holding him and swaying with him calms him down too.

All in all his a pretty good baby and doing the above things have always helped to quieten him and calm him down!  :)

The Cutest Baby is Born! :)

On 4 December this little cute boogie came along . . .  :D  Little Aidan René on the day he was delivered:

Here's his info:

Day 2 - so tiny compared to daddy's hand:

Day 7 - getting burped:

Day 11 - my other baby JellyBean comes to say hello:

Day 12 - relaxing with mummy on the couch:

So ya, the pregnancy is over!  In fact, it went by so fast that I've already forgotten what it feels like to be pregnant, haha.  Here's a post-pregnancy summary:

The Good

• Little Aidan is here!  :)

• I can do my toenails again - bye bye big belly, hehe

• No more trips to the loo in the middle of the night (ok, so I only had 1 each night just before sunrise, but still!)

• I can eat spaghetti bolognaise again!  It doesn't make me queazy anymore, yay.

• The acid reflux is GONE

•  I can lie on my back again and be comfy!

• I'm developing my doing-things-with-one-hand-while-holding-baby-in-the-other-hand skills 

• No more leg cramps when I have a good stretch in bed!

The Bad

• We don't get to snooze through the night anymore or stay in bed late - but it's ok, we'll get used to it!
• After a practically spot-free pregnancy, they've wasted no time in coming back already  :/

& The Ugly

• In the last week of pregnancy I got a bit of stretchmarks on my belly, and on my thighs for some reason, but after he was delivered I got even more stretchmarks on my belly! Boo.

The first few days were a bit hectic since all of this was all new to us and we got somewhat overwhelmed with all the crying and we didn't know what to do, but I think we've got the hang of it now!  Before he was born we read up about how to soothe a crying baby, and the techniques have actually worked!  So I'll post about them a bit later.

Anyhoo . . . . . . .

Did we make a CUTE baby or what?!?!?  :D

ONE DAY TO GO!!!

day to go until we're officially Noob Mum & Noob Dad!  :O

Can't believe the time has come already!  :) 

Things to look forward to - besides the obvious of finally having baby here:

• no more HUGE belly getting in the way!
• no more acid reflux, double yay!!
• I can snooze on my back again (which incidentally means I don't have to have achy hips most of the night anymore)!
• no more braxton hicks!
• hopefully no more trips to the loo just before sunrise

These should hopefully be all the IMMEDIATE improvements.

I'll be back . . . sometime soon!

ONE WEEK TO GO!!

days to go!

And we're ready . . . I think . . . well at least his room is ready! :)  And I'm still not looking forward to the op, so can't wait until THAT'S over and done with. 
And I discovered a small stretch mark on my belly the other day!  :O  Just about an inch or so, but still.  Hopefully none more come during this last week.
I hope I'll finally be rid of this reflux next week - so there's another thing to look forward to hopefully.  :D

Anyway, this is going to be a relatively "busy" week for me, since I want to get all my work done so that I can take the next 2 weeks off completely.  :)