WWTBAM Bored

We all went grocery shopping. On the way home, Mommy fed him 4 ounces from a bottle. Then he fell asleep (mind you, this is a 15-minute, 2-mile drive). So of course we brought him upstairs in the car seat, and he slept for about half an hour.

He woke up pissed off, like he always does unless there's a breast in his mouth. So I changed him. His screams were starting to take on a different character, changing from the "I'm not sold on this whole existence thing" to the "I'm in pain" screeches he makes when his legs bend the wrong way or he scratches himself too badly. (He's also starting to teethe, but when it's teething pain you stick your finger in his mouth and he tries to gum it off, which he wasn't doing this time.) And it got louder and louder and louder. Mommy ran into the changing room to see if I was hitting him with a hammer. She took him away, but the screams kept getting louder and louder. Mommy tries her secret weapon, and he eats a little, but it's a couple of sucks, scream bloody murder, and all over again. It's not working.

I take him back, and strip him down to make sure there's no welts, rusty nails sticking out of him, etc. Must be gas, but even after several healthy farts, burps and spit-ups, he's still screaming worse than I've ever heard. 20 solid minutes of Daddy's secret weapon (how the hell did Dads cope before yoga balls were commonplace?), and he still hasn't calmed down.

I'm wondering when the cops are going to show up, and thinking seriously about the emergency room (can't call the doctor; what anyone is saying on the phone is just completely impossible).

But just for the hell of it we give him a bottle out of the mommy's-at-work stash and he drinks it faster than I've ever seen. This is just an hour after he drank a full-size bottle, and maybe half an hour after he didn't really want to nurse. He's been happy as a clam for the past 2 hours.

I sometimes marvel about parenting.

I sometimes get why parents go off the deep end.

Thank you for not doing so.

Whatever works. It is frustrating not to know the cause of such crying.
Glad you found the right solution!

Wow that reminds me so much of my son (now 5) and the way he was angry to eat. He would yell and fight so hard while I was trying to latch him on it would take about 5x longer than it should have.....

Whenever he cried, I tried to feed him and assumed that was the issue.

Welcome. I know your frustration so well.

Ah, I remember how my son as an infant had one cry, an angry cry, reserved solely for being hungry.

Ok, ok, a teething cry did come along later....but I remember how ANGRY he sounded when hungry, especially when waking up in the morning.

Having an infant can be sooooo tremendously confusing! And difficult! Good luck to you!

ToLiveIsToFly wrote:[]He woke up pissed off, like he always does unless there's a breast in his mouth. So I changed him. His screams were starting to take on a different character, changing from the "I'm not sold on this whole existence thing" to the "I'm in pain" screeches he makes when his legs bend the wrong way or he scratches himself too badly. (He's also starting to teethe, but when it's teething pain you stick your finger in his mouth and he tries to gum it off, which he wasn't doing this time.) And it got louder and louder and louder. Mommy ran into the changing room to see if I was hitting him with a hammer. She took him away, but the screams kept getting louder and louder. Mommy tries her secret weapon, and he eats a little, but it's a couple of sucks, scream bloody murder, and all over again. It's not working.

I take him back, and strip him down to make sure there's no welts, rusty nails sticking out of him, etc. Must be gas, but even after several healthy farts, burps and spit-ups, he's still screaming worse than I've ever heard.

It struck me as I was reading this post that I really was searching my "experiences" memory bank to try and figure out what was wrong.

20 solid minutes of Daddy's secret weapon (how the hell did Dads cope before yoga balls were commonplace?), and he still hasn't calmed down.

What's a yoga ball? I imagine that Dads coped the way that God intended from the beginning . . . The bounce and walk around the room. (You know that Adam bounced and walked Cain and Abel all over the place.. )

I'm wondering when the cops are going to show up, and thinking seriously about the emergency room (can't call the doctor; what anyone is saying on the phone is just completely impossible).

But just for the hell of it we give him a bottle out of the mommy's-at-work stash and he drinks it faster than I've ever seen. This is just an hour after he drank a full-size bottle, and maybe half an hour after he didn't really want to nurse. He's been happy as a clam for the past 2 hours.

Congrats for getting to the root of the problem. I really thought that Frankie was older. Liked the pics on the website. He seems to be growing pretty good.

I remember nights like those. And it's funny how the most experienced parents still can't give the magic advice to make it not happen , at least occasionally. The only advice I can give (not that you asked for any.... ) is to keep trying stuff.

It's funny that you mentioned being on a trip in the car. There was a time when my oldest went through colic or something, and we had more frequent episodes like you described here. I finally put him in the carseat and drove around. He was asleep practically the moment I pulled out of the driveway. If I came back home, he screamed. So we spent more than a couple of midnight-2 AM shifts driving around the streets of Newburgh.

In this case, he might've just been too pissed off to eat that half hour earlier, and needed to get some good old-fashioned scream time in. Or maybe he wanted the novelty of the bottle. Who knows? But now you've got something new to try if he has another of these.

Nice job not letting the panic get to you.

If the car works, I suggest a baby swing. We had one that went front-to-back and side-to-side, plus had music and mobile action. It either saved my life or Erin's because she would not nap without motion. She was the gassiest baby I had.

You think you've seen it all after three kids, then #4 comes along and kicks your ass....

minimetoo26 wrote:You think you've seen it all after three kids, then #4 comes along and kicks your ass....

Snicker!

I sure would love to have a younger brother or sister to boss around. How about it mommy?

MinisKidToBeNamedLater wrote:

minimetoo26 wrote:You think you've seen it all after three kids, then #4 comes along and kicks your ass....

Snicker!

I sure would love to have a younger brother or sister to boss around. How about it mommy?

That would be an episode of Jerry Springer, since dad couldn't be the dad.

Besides, you've got me to boss around, and I have a credit card!

(For the record, she's in her third outfit today. It is 10:30 am. Do not have daughters if you can help it!))

minimetoo26 wrote:

MinisKidToBeNamedLater wrote:

minimetoo26 wrote:You think you've seen it all after three kids, then #4 comes along and kicks your ass....

Snicker!

I sure would love to have a younger brother or sister to boss around. How about it mommy?

That would be an episode of Jerry Springer, since dad couldn't be the dad.

Besides, you've got me to boss around, and I have a credit card!

(For the record, she's in her third outfit today. It is 10:30 am. Do not have daughters if you can help it!))

We grew up poor, so my sisters didn't have that luxury... which is a good thing since we're mainly talking late 80's New Kids on the Block era, and the stuff they wore could be seen a mile away by a blind man.....

lb13

minimetoo26 wrote:If the car works, I suggest a baby swing. We had one that went front-to-back and side-to-side, plus had music and mobile action. It either saved my life or Erin's because she would not nap without motion. She was the gassiest baby I had.

You think you've seen it all after three kids, then #4 comes along and kicks your ass....

Emma loved her baby swing. The only problem is that she would wake up when I had to crank it again. I've seen that they make swings now where she just press a button. That would have been really nice.

Today's baby swings are an amazing piece of equipment and well worth the money! It was the first one I had seen that would swing from side to side.
My son hated the regular baby swing when he was little, but the side to side choice would have been great.

I've got a bouncy seat that not only bounces the baby all by itself, it plays classical music, has all kinds of interesting gadgets for baby to see and lights up when the baby touches said gadgets. Took me 20 minutes to get the dang thing put together, then I had to look for 4 size D batteries so it will do all that stuff.

The portable crib I have gives you a choice of classical music, baby songs or just sounds of nature & has a light to use at night so you don't have to turn
on the room light.

I forgot about the D batteries. Buy in bulk. If they came up with an AC adapter, I would have saved a ton of money.

minimetoo26 wrote:Besides, you've got me to boss around, and I have a credit card!

Sweet!