I'm betting that just about everyone has had a switch in their house that doesn't seem to be attached to anything. When you flip it, nothing seems to change, leaving you to wonder why in the heck it's there. It's so common that stand-up comics have been joking for years about how the switch must turn on a light half-way around the world, and your flipping it on and off is really making someone in Bangalore quite angry.
Somewhere in another part of the world someone flipped the switch attached to Adam.
He's suddenly eating less often and sleeping much better at night. Saturday evening - the day of the soccer, the basketball, and the beer, beer, beer - Adam finished eating around 8 p.m. and we put him to bed not long after. He slept until about 4:30 and ate until 5. Then he went back to sleep until about 8. With one exception, he's been doing basically that every night since. It was as if he had decided that it's okay to sleep through the night.
And that's not all. He's been napping more during the day too. He still eats about every three hours during the day, but he's been taking 10-30 minute naps between each feeding. And when he eats, he tends to eat a little less than he had been eating before the mystery change.
When he's awake between feedings and naps, he's active and alert and generally happy and playful. He laughs more and is making more sounds. He's also grabbing more things and feeling them, instead of just accidentally touching them. Jean's been working with him a lot on this.
Somewhere in another part of the world someone flipped the switch attached to Adam.
He's suddenly eating less often and sleeping much better at night. Saturday evening - the day of the soccer, the basketball, and the beer, beer, beer - Adam finished eating around 8 p.m. and we put him to bed not long after. He slept until about 4:30 and ate until 5. Then he went back to sleep until about 8. With one exception, he's been doing basically that every night since. It was as if he had decided that it's okay to sleep through the night.
And that's not all. He's been napping more during the day too. He still eats about every three hours during the day, but he's been taking 10-30 minute naps between each feeding. And when he eats, he tends to eat a little less than he had been eating before the mystery change.
When he's awake between feedings and naps, he's active and alert and generally happy and playful. He laughs more and is making more sounds. He's also grabbing more things and feeling them, instead of just accidentally touching them. Jean's been working with him a lot on this.
He used to enjoy his pacifier most of the time when he was just hanging out, but now he doesn't want/need his pacifier nearly as often, as he's quite taken with the taste of his hands, and they satisfy him just fine, thank you very much.
In short, he's a whole new boy, and he's a boy we like.
But why?
Well, the only major change we've made is to start using "gas juice," otherwise known as simethicone, with each feeding. It's supposed to take the edge off the gas that is inevitable with a new digestive system that's learning how to operate. And he needed it. His gas was starting to make him so uncomfortable that it was waking him up and seemed to cause him pain, not just discomfort. Back then, it was a bit like this:
Now, he's much better. It didn't completely eliminate his gas, but it made it much more manageable for him.
Of course, every now and then, he's overcome with a certain level of ennui. But then, who isn't?
So, if any of you flipped a switch last weekend and you thought nothing happened, I've just got one message for you: For the love of all that is good and right in the world, please, I'm begging you. DON'T. TOUCH. THAT. SWITCH. AGAIN. LEAVE IT WHERE IT IS!
2 comments:
Mmmmm, sleep.
So does Jean have a pathological need to peek in his room constantly to make sure he's okay? I think it's a maternal thing. I'm happy to, y'know, let the little guy sleep, without poking and prodding and checking for breathing every 15 minutes.
Beats me. I sleep with a pillow over my head. My first question to Jean each morning is some variation on "How'd he do last night?"
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