I Thought I Liked The Color Purple
We all leave the hospital armed with the knowledge of the dreaded period of purple crying and hope it doesn’t happen to us. My husband and I didn’t even think twice about how we would handle such a situation, we were plenty busy ooh-ing and ahh-ing over our new little miracle.
We soon realized that we were that family on the video. I was clearly in denial. I felt that I could easily sooth her with my clever bag of tricks, but after about a month and some sideways looks from my pediatrician and husband, I realized that I had spent the past four weeks soothing a beautiful screaming bundle of joy.
Many mothers have difficulty handling these situations and with good reason! There were definitely times when it was difficult for me, especially when I was running on very little sleep. But every parent of a colicky baby develops their own soothing mechanisms. Check out this link for more information on colic. And the good news is – It gets better.
Exponentially, actually, as your little one moves into her fourth, fifth, sixth month and so on. Now, I have what I believe to be the happiest little 8 month old on earth (that hates the vacuum cleaner, the neighbors Scotties, and more than 4 people fussing over her in one day) but happy, nonetheless.
Even more encouraging than any tip or advice I received during those first few months, was running across this article in O’Healthy. A recent study found that “Having a secure attachment with their mother helps irritable babies respond well to unfamiliar people and situations.” We were advised by various people that we were spoiling our baby, and received advice that clearly contradicts the findings in this study. This article proves that the manner in which my husband and I chose to handle our “highly irritable baby” will have a positive impact on her development well into toddlerhood. This reminded us that it is important to recognize that not every piece of advice is good advice. Only you know what is best you’re your baby.
What are some of the “tricks” you used with your colicky baby? Did you receive any words of advice that really seemed to help? Or not help?
