For the last couple of weeks, Jenson has been struggling with colic. I’ve had plenty of tips from friends and health professionals (more on those in another post) but first I want to share a typical ‘day in the life of Emma and Jenson’. Pre-baby I didn’t know much about colic; it sounded like a term for when your baby cries for no reason. Of course there’s a reason why your baby cries and of course you can eventually settle him. Right? Ha! The ignorance of non-parents. Here’s an account of a typical day at home for me and Jenson.
7.30am – the alarm goes off for Luke to go to work. The baby has just settled following his 6.45am feed (he has a habit of waking up in time for a nappy change, feed, burping sesh and to be settled right before the alarm. Under advice, I keep him upright on me for 20-30 mins post-feed to ‘help’ colic and reduce his reflux. It only seems to help with the latter at the mo).
8.15am – Luke leaves for work. I’ve spent the last 45 minutes trying to re-settle the baby so that I can get an extra hour or two of sleep, compensating for the time I spend awake in the night for his feeds (when Luke works I do the night feeds to make sure he’s not too sleep-deprived).
8.30am – The baby is cute and smiley and I savour the moment whilst realising that we’re not going back to sleep. I admit defeat and get up, dress and take him downstairs. While he’s quiet I quickly put the kettle on and grab a cereal bar. As I sit down with my coffee he starts screaming. He’s not due a bottle for another two hours (the Health Visitor said I was over-feeding him and need to be giving him 5oz of formula every four hours – more on that in another post). I pick him up and try rocking him to settle him.
8.45am – rocking didn’t work. I try standing and bouncing him in my arms while I sway side to side. It works. I tire and sit down while keeping him bouncing but he misses the rocking and starts crying again. I lie him on my lap and rock him until he falls asleep. I make the move to transfer him to the moses basket so I can drink my lukewarm coffee. As he hits the mattress he starts screaming again. And so begins the cycle for an hour or so.
10am – the screaming grows even more intense, the kind where his face turns bright red and he can’t catch his breath properly. Tears pour down his face and he is damp with sweat. I cave and gave him his bottle, but not before his serving of gripe water (he often has a couple of ounces of water between feeds to try and appease him/keep him going – with added brown sugar if he’s constipated). We pause halfway through for a burping session and he falls asleep after finishing his bottle and a couple more burps.
11am – after keeping him upright and making the transition to the moses basket, I creep into the bathroom to pee and brush my teeth, etc, before washing and sterilising his bottles from the night before and preparing his next bottle. I’ve learned to always have one ready as it breaks my heart to put him down and leave him crying in the basket while I pop to the kitchen. I make a fresh cup of coffee and grab some food from the fridge to keep by my side as who knows when I might get to eat lunch. I watch yesterday’s episode of Neighbours as I drink my coffee, with one eye and ear on the baby, fingers crossed that he’ll stay asleep for a while. Ensuring that there are clean, sterilised bottles and that I have eaten are my first priorities when he naps, followed by own nap. Housework falls waaay down the list!
12 noon – he starts to stir. I avoid eye contact, hoping that he’ll hold out a while longer. He starts babbling to himself and I look over to see him smiling that huge, gummy smile of his. He’s so adorable! We play for five or ten minutes until he gets cranky. Then the crying starts again. I offer him more water and he looks like he might go back to sleep. Wrong!
3.30pm – after another cycle of screaming, bouncing, rocking, feeding and burping, he has fallen asleep on me. It’s not worth the hassle of trying to get him in the basket and I decide to leave him where he’s comfy and happy. As long as I’ve got my phone, the remote and a bottle of water by my side, I’m all set.
6pm – Luke gets home from work. I hand him the baby and make dinner. Jenson is guaranteed to wake up just after Luke gets home and gives him plenty of smiles. By the time we’re ready to sit down and eat, he’s cranky again, so we take it in turns to hold him while the other eats. It’s not very often that we get to eat a hot meal at the same time!
8pm – all three of us are fed for the evening and Luke takes Jenson up to the office. I do the dishes, put on the laundry, fold and put away yesterday’s laundry, change the water in the steriliser, wash the day’s bottles, tidy up downstairs, shower (morning showers are a luxury – who will watch the baby?), put the laundry in the dryer and prepare the next bottle. All things I could be doing while Jenson has his afternoon nap but he either won’t settle in his basket and is sleeping on me or I’m catching a rare extra hour or two of sleep to compensate for the night feeds.
10pm – I go up to the office. Jenson is asleep in his basket. I manage an hour blogging/browsing online before going to bed.
11pm – I debate whether to pick up the magazine I’ve been trying to read for a fortnight, watch something on the tablet or go to sleep. Sleep always wins.
12 midnight – Luke comes to bed and moves Jenson into the bedroom while trying not to disturb him.
1am – Jenson has slept through his bedtime feed and is ready to begin the nightfeeds. Joy.
Don’t worry, not all of my days are like this. Luke is home two days a week so I can share the load, I get out of the house and go to a baby group once a week and meet up with my mummy friends every week or two. Plus my mum pops over to help out around the house in exchange for baby cuddles. But this pretty much sums up my last week. Yep, one baby is definitely enough!