welcome to hell
I have to say that I've lucked out with Drew. He's a good baby. He is a wonderful napper, he plays by himself and loves to giggle and smile. Not a very high maintenance baby. At all. Must take after his father. ;-)
Or he wasn't.
Until he started to teeth.
Motrin. Frozen washcloths. Frozen rattles. Tylenol. Nothing works to relieve this kids discomfort. And now, he doesn't want to eat anymore. He won't open his mouth for anything except Juice.
He's driving me crazy cause I'm terrified he's not eating enough. I turned to my trusty Supernanny book (I really heart Jo) and she basically says, he'll eat when he's hungry. Try to stick to the schedule and if he doesn't eat at a meal, just say alright and wait till the next.
Why is that so freakin' hard to do? Do we as mom's inherit some gene where we need to see our child eat everything we give them? WTF?
And on the sleep front, just when a full nights sleep was in reach, teething took that away. For the past few weeks, Drew's back to waking up a minimum of twice during the night. Sleep was nice while it visited. Does it come back? God I hope so. This luggage underneath my eyes is a not so nice shade of purple. It looks like Andrew punched me. Which he just might have with the attitude I've had because of the lack of sleep.
But he's been amazing at really picking up with Drew... he's doing much more to relieve me with the baby... of course, he's been off from work, so we'll see if that continues when he goes back next week. But this week has been nice... Especially when Andrew took care of him for a full day by himself while I went to the office. I came home and Andrew said, "How do you do this every day?"
Vindication! Any advice on getting Mr. Closed Mouth to eat. God, if that could just be my problem, this baby weight would be off already.
Comments
"How do you do this everyday....??" That really IS what makes them truly understand how hard it is!! Nice!!!
I agree with the book...a hungry baby will eat. If you can't do that, perhaps try making the food cold? Maybe that would help a little? I never did that with my kids, I did the frozen teething stuff....but it's a thought....
good luck mama!!! And sleep does come back....but don't hold your breath!! LOL
Have you tried orajel with the motrin? Or there are Hyland teething tablets, I never used them but had friends who sworn by them.
Is he staying hydrated? Formula will give him everything he needs if he's not eating.
((hugs)) This too shall pass! He'll have a mouth full of teeth before you know it and you'll be wishing you could go back to that gummy smile. :)
I promise he will not starve. Every so often when we are in pain we lose our apettite, this is what has happened to him. He hurts. And it makes you hurt and makes you worry. BUT he has a survival instinct that says: EAT. He will eat when he is hungry and you will be miserably worried until he does. It will be just a little while longer. He may also be working on another tooth already, some babies get them in pairs (ours did). One tooth one week another the next. Just give him whatever he will take and try not to worry too much.
If he will do the formula, do that, it's a stellar idea. Complete nutrition for him.