1 Mother 2 Another

Lucky us.  Colic came early to this household.

Just when you think you’re starting to get the hang of this – nursing every couple of hours, sleeping when she sleeps, diaper changing while half awake – the rules change.  Suddenly, she doesn’t just cry when she’s hungry.  She cries All. The. Time.  I think she’s finally happy, finally asleep, at 2 a.m., after a full day of screaming, eating, and diaper changes, and she cranks it back up again.  We’re told colic starts usually at 3-4 weeks, and here it is at 2 ½.  We can send someone to the moon, but we can’t figure out this colic thing???

We heard about the little honeymoon you get at the very beginning of the relationship - those first couple of days right after she's born, when she sleeps all the time?  That's just her being crafty; she's lulling you into a false sense of competency.  This is no problem!  I can do this!  What's the big deal?!

Then she wakes up and turns into the Eating Machine.  But after a few days you accept the round-the-clock thing (it's not like everyone didn't warn you ahead of time anyway) and get the machine running efficiently.  She cries, Brian gets up and changes her while I stumble to the nursing chair, she eats, she goes back to bed.  Repeat every two hours.  Got it.

But now this colic thing.  It may be the end of me.  She screams and screams and nothing you do makes a difference.  Feeding, changing, rocking, nothing helps.  She looks at you, hurt and panicked, as if to say, "Why can't you fix this?  Please make this better!"  And you feel so helpless.  Boy I hope this gets better.  Everyone says it should only last until three months or so, and peak at six weeks.  You mean this gets worse??? And lasts for six times longer than she's been alive???  How exactly is that supposed to make me feel better??