Little Miss Cranky Pants

"Mellow", "Content", "Calm"... none of these words describe our little princess! At 7 1/2 weeks old we have decided we just might have ourselves a cranky baby. We have some days that are better than others, but for the most part we have a lot of fussing....unless eating or sleeping. I keep waiting for things to get better, but let's face it, every time I say, "I think she is coming out of it" or "I think she is starting to get happier", --she gets ten times worse. So I don't say that anymore.

I feel like everyone and their mother's dog describes their newborn with one of the three aforementioned words, and I'm not going to lie: a little jealous! Either way, we still love our little miss cranky pants to pieces and think she is a doll....we just try not to take her in public too often. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't terrified to take her to church tomorrow. I know we will be the ones everyone is staring at wondering why we can't get our baby to calm down.

Here are some things we try. I'm hoping we'll look back at it one day an find it humorous.

*Swing. She lasts about 5-10 min. and then exercises her lungs.

*Bouncy seat. She lasts about 5-10 min. and then exercises her lungs.

*Floor mat w/ and w/o toys. She lasts about 10 minutes and I have to be there the entire time shaking rattles, singing, etc...and then she exercises her lungs.

*Holding. She last 1-2 min. sitting. Then it's up we go! We bounce, we walk, we bounce, we sway, we go room to room, we bounce some more, and so on. When we're up, we can last about 15 min. before exercising lungs.

* Gas drops and Gripe water. Don't seem to make much difference.

*Changing my diet. I have cut out dairy because it seems to make her have worse reflux, but she still has good reflux days and bad so I don't know if that has done anything.

*Walks. Let's put it this way--I try to stay away from houses and try to go on the trail when it's not a busy time. I walk her with the stroller and the carseat attachment, the stroller w/o carseat (she can lay down), and walk her without the stroller in my arms. She'll be calm for about 5 min. at a time, then I have to stop, take her out and console and put her back in and repeat. She usually starts a blood curdling scream at the absolute farthest place from home. I think everyone that has seen me thinks I abuse my child. Why else would she be screaming that way?! I have even had to take her out and carry her in one arm while pushing the stroller with the other.

*Swaddling. She HATES it, but mostly at night. If I put her arms in and wrap her tight, she throws a tantrum until her arms eventually come out. We think she's so skinny because she can't hold still. Even when she is sleeping she is moving all over squeaking an grunting. She sounds like a little dinosaur. When I go get her, she is usually completely sideways in the bassinet. I honestly don't even know that she ever sleeps.

*Pacifier. This lasts 10-15 min. depending on the day and I have to hold it in her mouth.

So basically, I rotate between all things all day long. When she eats, she eats for about an hour. I have been told not to feed her so long, but to be honest, sometimes having an hour where she isn't so cranky is kind of nice and makes the time go more quickly between the feedings. I have her eating about every 3 hours and she doesn't seems especially starving between feedings...just unsettled and sometimes burpy and gassy. Her nights aren't horrible, but she doesn't sleep through the night. She goes down about 8:30/9, gets up anywhere from 2:00-3:30 and then again around 6 or so. Lately she hasn't wanted to go back to sleep when she's up at 3:30 and that is torture. I would say I think things are going to get better...but I don't want to jinx myself. Oh well, in spite of it all, I am SO grateful to have a healthy baby (even if she's not so happy) and I love the days and even just the minutes in some cases when she is happy and smiley. We love her to pieces and couldn't imagine life without her!