Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - Update

You're not Olivia. . .you're a pig.

Where oh where did my 4 am go? Olivia has now decided to wake me up twice in the night. She used to sleep for 5 - 6 hours straight. I'm not quite sure how this happened. I asked her once at 5:30 am why we were doing this again when we were just up at 2:30 am and she just grinned at me.

Ryan and I have noticed that during the day Olivia is the most happy-go-lucky, easy-going baby in the world. When evening rolls around, she just falls apart. Granted, all of us have probably fallen apart at the end of our days on occasion, but her days shouldn't be that much different than her nights. She just starts crying inconsolably most every night like clockwork (some nights, however, are worse than others.) Usually, it only lasts about 30 mintues to an hour tops. I thought colicky babies cried for hours. We've always suspicioned that it was the Phenobarb and it might be, but last night it all started before we gave it to her. Is it true colic? I guess we'll know more when she finishes her medicine at the end of this week. It just breaks my heart to see the tears streaming down her cheeks. It doesn't make a difference if she's slept well through the day or not as I once thought it was because she was tired. After she goes to sleep at night and wakes up in the early morning. . .she's back to being smiley and the cycle repeats itself.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Conner does the same thing. In fact, he finally just stopped the crying and fell asleep. I was thinking reflux, tired, cranky...I don't know either. If you figure it out, let me know!!
Stacy

Anonymous said...

It is not uncommon for babies to have a fussy time each day. Usually the evening and many believe it is because of the changes at the end of the day. Kids come home from school, dad comes home from work, etc. It is totally normal and probably not colic. Asher cried every night between 5 and 8 pm. This went on until he was about 4-6 months old. My friends had the same thing with their daughter. They called it the "witching hour" More than likely that is what Olivia is doing. I would just say that as long as she is just crying to cry I wouldn't worry. She will probably grow out of it in the next couple of months. Just what you wanted to hear! She is a beautiful baby.

Julie Hamlett

Anonymous said...

Of course every baby is different and Olivia has faced more challenges than most, but my mom says my brother (who was full-term) did the same exact thing. He had colic and would cry like crazy in the evenings (not during the day). Hopefully knowing that a lot of babies go through this will help ease your worry some, although watching her cry and be unhappy has got to be so hard. I know you want to prevent her from ever being in pain again. Hang in there! You're doing great and RSV season is ALMOST over!

Kerry

Anonymous said...

We had a witching hour in our house with our first child... hopefully new baby will not entertain us with those same antics. With our oldest we finally figured out that we were just keeping her up later at night-- she was ready for bed! So we switched her bedtime a bit and that seemed to help. Maybe making her afternoon nap a little later might help you too. Good luck. The things these kids try to make us figure out ;) --Angie

Anonymous said...

All five of mine had "witching hours" too in the evening. We would just pray the evening away until it was time for them to go to bed for the night. It is hard, very hard to have your child react this way and not know what to do. Hopefully this is all it is for Olivia. I never dealt with colic, so I can't be of any help there. And as for Olivia waking up several times again, maybe it's another growth spurt. Everyday when I read your blog, I am amazed at how far Miss Olivia has come! God is good!
Denise

Kellars Mommy said...

Kellar did this when he was about her age, he would be fine during the day, and then about the same time every evening he would start crying which led to screaming and nothing we did would settle him. I was so freaked out ( I was so afraid it was something to do with his bowel surgery ) that I called the nicu and they said it was common for a colicky baby to have *episodes* at the same time of day, usually in the evening..and on top of that he did have reflux as well...