[dropcap]F[/dropcap]or most of us, prior to giving birth the only previous experience we’ve had with babies is when we watched the occasional diaper commercial. Sure the moms in those commercials were cutely frazzled in their spunky SAHM sportswear. But they glowed happily as they chased that rosy moppet around the brightly colored (and spotlessly clean!) carpet and I was sure this was the future waiting for me. Nothing – I mean NOTHING – had prepared me to handle this tiny wrinkled pink creature who cried. A lot.
Please Baby - Mommy Needs to Sleep!
The nurses at the hospital were nonplussed by his behavior so I simply assumed that this is what newborns were like. Babies cry right? Intellectually I knew this but emotionally I was shocked by the stress of caring for this mysterious creature who cried constantly and slept unpredictably. Nights were an exhausting wasteland of infant soothing interspersed by the occasional catnap. I loved my little crying sleepless baby with every particle in my being. But man…it was rough.
Years later, I now know that I wasn’t alone. In fact roughly one third of us are going to struggle with a (insert: fussy baby, poor sleeper, high needs child), or as I like to call them, troublesome tots. This site is devoted to providing practical, medically-based guidance for all of my peeps out there, who are struggling with their own little ones. I know that a night spent struggling with an unhappy baby is a frustrating, exhausting, and lonely place to be. I also know that:
- This will pass.
- There are things that you can to do make it better. Starting today.
Honest.