Tricks of the Trade

Many of you may know that Ryder was high needs baby but he was happy if I held him. He spent many hours in the sling and slept on the dryer for the first 5-6 months of his life. We made it through and I actually loved all of the snuggle time we had. Now..

Trey Garrett Barnum

is a different story. We wouldn't want anything to be the same with any of our children. (That would make things boring, right?) So, Trey has been a particularly colicky baby. This is different than high needs because he cried, even when we held him. We tried so many things that I feel that we should document all the "Tricks of the Trade" that we tried during those rough months. As you will see, nothing worked all the time so it was important to have a lot of "tools" in our "tool belt."

• Sling - We tried the sling many times and some times it worked. It wasn't a cure all for sure and it was difficult to serve dinner with a screaming baby in the sling. He never slept in it for hours like Ryder did.
  

• Bouncer - He really did like the bouncer and it helped to have him up on the counter where I could talk to him. This helped, so that I could make dinner and keep him a little happier too.
  

• Dryer - Trey slept on the dryer quite a few nights. It was difficult to get him to sleep and the dryer helped some of the time.
  

• Nurse - We tried this a lot and it different places and different positions. It is always hard because sometimes this only made things worse.
  

• Snuggle - We just tried to love him through it.
  

• Bounce on Exercise Ball - This worked great but it was hard work and kind of hurt my back. My core isn't very strong after a baby.
  

• Shoulder Hold - This hold worked a lot of the time. He loved having his belly right on our shoulder. It didn't look very comfortable but it worked.
  

• Dr. Sears - This website has a ton of information for moms and it has a section for fussy babies and another for colicky babies. We used lots of ideas from here and found it helpful.
  

• "Fire" - He really never would take a "fire." We tried and tried and sometimes if we held it in his mouth it would sooth him for a little bit.

• Music - I would sing to him to try to calm him. Sometimes even nursing he would be so upset I would have to sing to get him to even eat.
  

• Walking - We tried walking around. Trey didn't like the infant stroller but has of course always do well in the Burley stroller.
  

• Go outside and sit on the porch - He loved being outside. I don't know if it was the fresh air, the wind, or the sound of the kids playing but he liked it a lot.
  

• Football hold - Garrett was better at this hold than me but it worked occasionally if you could get the "fire" to stay in his mouth too, that was a bonus.

• Peace and Quiet - This would work some but it was hard to come by in a house of 3 older siblings.
  

• No chocolate - I still can't have chocolate. It really does seem to give him an upset tummy.
  

• No diary - Going without Diary was really hard. I never realized how much diary is in our normal diet. I had to make separate meals even sometimes. We experimented with this for a couple of weeks but didn't find that it was helping.

• Gripe water - Gripe water is an herbal product that is good for an upset tummy. We used it for a while and it helped some.

• Probiotic - I took try to the doctor and she thought he was health and just a colicky baby. She suggested that we try a probiotic (live cultures found in yogurt). She thought that his digestive track might not be working at 100% because of the antibiotics he needed at birth. It was hard to give to him, because I had to pump, but it in breast milk and then give it to him with a syringe. We were hoping for an easy fix, but ... no such luck.

• Listen to him (he might just want to tell us something?)
• Whine back
• Talk to him (Kids did this well)

When Trey turned about 3 months old we started to see some changes. These few things are what really made the difference.

• Swing - At first the swing only worked part of the time. He never really seemed to settle. He would startle awake and then struggle to get back to sleep. I moved the swing into our bedroom and used it only to sleep. I would watch really carefully and as soon as he looked tired I would put him in the swing to sleep.
  

• Swaddle - Before I would put him in the swing I would swaddle him really good. We tried this on accident once and couldn't believe the difference that it made. He know longer startled so often and if he did, he quickly went back to sleep. We still swaddle before every nap and bedtime. I even made him some big sized swaddle blankets.
  

• Thumb - He also found his thumb around this time. We were SO grateful for this. It helped him to self-sooth and we found that he was much happier because of this.
  

• Infant Massage - I admit to being a little bit of a weirdo but I didn't think I would buy this book and be a believer that it works. Trey never had regular bowel movements and seemed like his tummy bothered him all the time. I gave him the "colic massage" three times a day for 2 weeks and it was about that time that we noticed a big turn around for him. Occasionally he will still have a fussy day and if I work hard and remember his massage, he seems to get it all out a is a much happier baby.

• Night time sleep - By watching for Trey's sleepy signs we learned to put him to sleep at about 6:30 at night. He sleeps until about 10 or 11 and then wakes up one or two other times but always goes back to sleep until about 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning. His fussy time was between 4 and 9 at night. So this has made a huge difference. (Plus it makes for a happy mom. I have never been able to get out of the house so easy with a newborn baby. Girls nights and Dates with Garrett are so much nicer without an unhappy baby.)
  

It was a lot of working figuring out how to make Trey happy, but it was worth it!
Trey is a much happier baby and we are really enjoying this new phase.