Head scratching

“What do we do now?”
Cat begged the question the other night as yet again, little Aimee’s nightly screaming fits had us both scratching our heads trying to work out a way to get a decent night’s sleep.
So far, we have tried controlled crying – which works in the beginning of the evening, but not during the day and not at 3am. We are now onto pre-emptive feeding – this is where you wake up the monster half an hour before her usual wake up call to dose her with milk and put her back to sleep. This has a limited but slightly better response than just leaving her to wake up by herself. We have also begun Aimee on solids and introduced formula milk late at night – both foods ease the hunger as they are slower to digest than breast milk. But Aimee still wakes up.

I guess at the end of the day, there is no instant answer, despite what the guide books suggest. This is something that Cat and I simply have to cope with. No amount of trickery or technique will give us the instant help that we need, so we just plough on. And we are not the only ones, as endless stories from parents of all generations testify that their babies nearly always cried lots at night for feeds until one night, like magic, they simply slept all through the night. This magic age is usually about 6-7 months. We’re crossing our fingers that Aimee does this sooner rather than later.
But it is easy to complain and moan. These ramblings are really a release from the strains of early parenthood. It is very hard, make no doubt about that. But there is a flipside. Each day Aimee grows, she discovers something new to grab, bite, observe, laugh, and it is amazing to witness. When complete strangers do a turnaround and grab you to say what a beautiful baby you have, it makes you feel proud. Cat and I are also closer then ever because of Aimee. We have shared amazing experiences together. We dream about what type of person Aimee will become. Cat wants someone to go shopping with. I want to train a kungfu kicking ninjarette. Just dreams really, but Aimee gives us those dreams.