EMMA'S STORY
Our baby girl, Emma,
may have been a little overly sensitive to sudden
motions and sounds (she startled each time the phone rang)
but it never
occurred to us that she could become a fussy baby. So, when
it came, the
misery of colic hit us like a freight train.
Promptly at 6 PM on her
tenth day of life, Emma became extremely irritable.
She cried inconsolably, on and off, for six hours. My husband
and I did
everything we knew to get her to sleep. We tried: rocking,
walking, music,
turning on bathroom fan, etc. I had a hunch it might be gas,
but the burp
drops we bought on a midnight run to the drugstore were useless.
Finally, at
1 AM, we took her for a long car ride and she fell asleep.
When we got
home, however, we were afraid to move her. So, we hoisted
Emma plus her
seat out of the car, tiptoed into the house and gently placed
the whole bulky
package in the middle of our bed. Then, we lay down on either
side of her,
like sentries flanking the queen, and that's how we slept
for the rest of the
night.
Like clockwork, at 6
PM the next night, Emma began crying again. We
repeated the list of suggested soothing activities but we
ended up back in
the car at midnight. Apparently, that was the magic she needed
to finally
give in to sleep. Although it was exhausting for us to drive
so late at night,
we thought a pattern had been established and at least we
knew how to
soothe her.
How wrong we were!
The third night, Emma
didn't cry at 6 PM: she waited until 9 PM. This time
her irritability and crying lasted until 4 AM…and the
car ride didn't work. I
was exhausted and concerned this behavior signaled some horrible
problem.
We went to her pediatrician the next morning to see what was
wrong. His
diagnosis rang in my ears: colic.
He suggested a variety
of things that might help: homeopathic colic tablets,
gripe water, and carrying her around a lot. He told us it
would be difficult
for a while but reassured us it would pass by the time she
reached three
months. Three months! It sounded like an eternity to us. We
tried all our
doctor's suggestions plus carrying her around in a sling all
day and sleeping
together.
These seemed to help
a little, but then came one of the worst days of
my life. Emma woke up at 8:30 AM and did not sleep again until
midnight. I
can't say she yelled the whole time; but she had constant
irritability that
framed long periods of crying. On the verge of hysteria, I
called the doctor
again. He prescribed Donnatal (an anti-spasm medication with
phenobarbital)
and, with great hesitation, we gave it to her. Thankfully
the drug put her to
sleep and we thought, 'At last, we have a plan for when things
really get bad.'
By one month, our daughter
had become irritable day and night. She would
be fine for a while after her meal, but then she would start
squirming and
crying. She needed to be held constantly and there were days
when I felt
like a prisoner on the couch, unable to get up. By 1½
months, the medication,
which at first seemed like our salvation, stopped working.
We now had
nothing to use the days when the crying simply could not be
stopped.
By trial and error, I
figured out a combination of tricks that usually worked.
I swaddled her, gave her the pacifier, held her tightly in
a nursing position,
and rocked her in the rocking chair…hard. This routine
would put her to
sleep, however, as soon as I stopped it, our little 'princess
and the pea' would
awaken with a shriek. (I once rocked her all day long until
I 'slipped into
coma' at 3 AM.)
My life was like a nightmare.
This was supposed to be such a special time,
but it was so hard. I was demoralized and depressed. Emma
was now more
than two-months-old and I still couldn't leave the house.
Each time I took
her outside she wailed. People gave me tons of advice and
although they
meant well, inside my heart I raged at them. I felt they were
blaming me.
At about this time, Emma
began to spit-up more. We told her pediatrician
and he referred us to a gastroenterologist who diagnosed her
with stomach
acid reflux. He said this was the cause of her frequent spitting…and
perhaps of her crying too. He prescribed a couple of medications
(Zantac
and Propulsid) and we started her on them immediately.
During her first two
months, notwithstanding the colic, Emma would go 5 to
7 hours between feedings at night. However, on the medications
her sleep
became restless. Within two weeks, she began waking up crying
every 2 to 3
hours. We were beyond exhausted.
We phoned her gastroenterologist
who took her off the medicines. But, her
sleep did not improve. Moreover, she again became irritable
during the day.
I called her pediatrician, but he was out so I spoke to his
associate, Dr. Karp.
Dr. Karp taught us the 'Cuddle' method for getting Emma to
sleep. We had
already been doing the beginning steps (swaddle, pacifier,
rock), but he
advised us to add the blow dryer and to let her sleep in the
swing.
We called it the ' Karp Cuddle Cure' because this method changed
our lives.
We decided to try it out during naptime. Emma still protested
when I
moved her from the rocking chair to swing but she tolerated
it as long as a
CD of a blow dryer was playing in the background.
After several days, Emma
had gotten so accepting of the hypnotic rhythms
of the swing, we began letting her sleep in it at night. Within
a few more
days, she would stay sleep in it from 11PM to 6 AM! Two weeks
later, she
was sleeping 8 to 10 hours at night. This was an enormous
leap from where
she had been.
It became clear to us
Emma was not in terrible pain, rather she was so
sensitive that the mild discomfort she was experiencing was
enough to yank
her out of her slumber. The 'Karp Cuddle Cure', on the other
hand, appeared
to counter her sensitivity and lull her into a deeper level
of tranquility.
By 3 months, we had at
last figured out what Emma needed to be happy. She
did have reflux and was definitely more comfortable on Zantac.
But, for a
large part of the day, and the whole night, she needed to
be swaddled, swung
and serenaded by white noise.
Even at 4½ months,
when most babies are no longer colicky, Emma still was
sensitive and easily pushed into fussiness. She was, however,
much better
than the month before. And, slowly, her irritability subsided
and she
showed more and more of the happy baby she truly was inside."
Several months later, I received this note from
Emma's mother Jody:
"Hi, Emma is now 9 months old.
She sleeps through the night and is doing
quite well. At 6 months, she transitioned easily out of the
swing and into her
crib. She no longer needs to be swaddled but she does still
sleep better if
we play the blow drier CD, although it doesn't have to be
loud anymore. Her
reflux is better but not resolved."
When I saw Emma at her 15-month visit, she was
pain-free, off antacids and had
blossomed into a beautiful, chatty little girl. Jody said
her most characteristic trait
was sensitivity to everything around her.
"Nothing sneaks by Emma without her
noticing. In retrospect, it's likely her
mild reflux and hypersensitive temperament combined to give
make her, and
us, miserable during her first few months."
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