It truly is amazing what power your baby's cry can have over you. It can turn you from a calm, doting parent into a crazed, frightened, and/or frenzied person hanging onto control by your fingertips.
Over the last week or so, Dorothy has been becoming more fussy. She would go, within a matter of seconds, from calm and placid to full-bore screaming her head off. Pacifiers have been becoming less popular, and pinky fingers more popular. On Wednesday, we experienced the full power of The Cry. There was a period which felt like forever but which really was only a bit longer than two hours during which Dorothy was inconsolable. Anything we tried would help for about a minute, then she'd cry again. We kept handing her back and forth to each other to get a break. It was unbelievably frazzling.
We eventually discovered that she had a diaper rash. Apparently we hadn't been getting proper coverage with the vaseline. So I made a late-night run to CVS to pick up some diarper rash cream. Zinc oxide is the recommended ingredient, and all the brands had at least some. Zinc oxide is what's in the white sunblock you see on some lifeguards' noses. Well, diaper rash cream looks very similar. The 10% zinc oxide stuff("A+D" brand, also w/ dimethicone and aloe) stuff has a consistency a little thinner than toothpaste, and went on easily. It seemed to help immediately. We were expecting a sleepless night, but she wound up sleeping for over 4 hours straight (which is as long as it's possible for her to sleep these days)! In the morning we tried the 40% zinc oxide stuff (Desitin-equivalent generic, no other special ingredients). That stuff has a consistency like thick tar. White tar, but tar nonetheless. It also seemed to work well.
On Thursday, Dorothy seemed to be doing better, although still somewhat fussy. Sometime in the afternoon her poop seemed to get more liquid, looking like what we'd guess is baby diarrhea. While out and about, we stopped at Babies R Us to pick up a few things. At Babies R Us, they have three types of restrooms: "Men's Room" and "Women's Room" and "Mother's Room." It certainly makes sense, and the Mother's Room has changing tables and an area to nurse. Well, after nursing, Elizabeth tried to change Dorothy. I won't go into the gory details, but suffice it to say that Dorothy had multiple poop explosions, and wound up needing to have all of her clothes changed. And Elizabeth said it was a good thing that the person who cleans the room showed up, because the room needed it after Dorothy was done.
We got Dorothy home, and called the after-hours nurse. They said we could wait until Friday morning, but diarrhea is a serious thing in a baby, so we brought her in to see her pediatrician today. The doctor said that it's probably not a bug, and may just be a reaction to something Elizabeth has been eating, so we're going to try a bit of a diet change and see if that helps. The pediatrician also thought Dorothy was gassy, so we're going to work on positions to help gas escape better, and to burp her more. (On a side note: Dorothy was up to 10lbs 5.7oz at today's visit.) Most of the day today since we got home, though, Dorothy has been extra fussy, and has required either a nipple (fake or real, as long as milk comes out) or a pinky finger to suck on for much of the day. She now seems to hate pacifiers. We tried multiple times to give her a pacifier instead of a finger, but she always refused it. I even tried to trick her by putting a dab of milk (after I was nursing her from a bottle) on the pacifier and then giving her the pacifier. That trick worked once, and then she caught on to me. :-(
We're hoping that the diarrhea will go away soon, and that the gas will get better. She seems to be sleeping OK for much of the night, but if she stays this demanding for long, it's going to get hard on us. I'm staying up tonight to get some work done, since it's been hard when I'm either watching her or catching up on sleep. Wish us luck!
Posted by Tom Nugent at April 16, 2004 11:17 PMThis too shall pass! I wish I were there to help you two get a break (and some more rest).
Posted by: Grandma Chris at April 17, 2004 07:33 PM