CARTER'S ROOM IN THE CHATEAU

August 2002

Aug 4-10
More Colic!!! Major lack of sleep and frustration. Fortunately, Carter is an angel during the day, so that gets us through the long nights. Also, knowing that it doesn't last forever!

Week Six Aug 11-17
The week started with the miracle of Zantac. After a horrifying night of Colic we returned to the pediatrician's office Friday, August 9th. We were told that this was normal Colic behavior but we could make some progress by taking Zantec for some reflux that could be exaggerating the problem. That was the first night Carter was asleep before 1AM, and only woke up once during the night. The following night was good as well. My Mom was in town this weekend and would like to believe she was the cause of good behavior. We then returned to the world of Colic. Colic does take breaks. You can have a couple of good days mixed in, and we are afraid that is all that happened. Being the same day as a new medicine we were very hopeful, but NOPE! Denied! Even so, we do think the Zantac takes a little edge off. The screaming isn't as powerful as long. But still intolerable!

Monday AUG 12
Although we had a relatively good weekend, Carter is back in form. Last night was screaming all night.

Tuesday AUG 13
Screamed all night!!!

Wednesday AUG 14
Carter was very unhappy again, and he screamed all night!!!

Thursday AUG 15
We kept him up all day so he would be exhausted and sleep all night. It didn't work. He slept 3 out of 24 hours. We couldn't believe it. We thought that after sleeping so little during the day he would have to sleep at night. NOPE - He screamed all night!!!

Friday AUG 16
Tonight we tried solid food for the first time. We saw the pediatrician for our next scheduled appointment and asked about solid food. She said that it probably wouldn't work but that if it made it worse we could easily stop. Because we are very worried about our sanity and stress levels we have no choice but to try anything and everything. Carter had his second vaccine before we leave the office. That night we mix a little baby rice cereal with some pumped breast milk and feed it to him in a bottle. Although he didn't seem to like it, he ate it. He was fussy the rest of the night but was in bed by 1:00 AM. That was great and even better he was only up one during the night to eat, and went back to bed rather quickly.

Saturday AUG 17
Saturday night was not as good as Friday but still an improvement over the week. We know that colic takes breaks but we are hopeful that keeping him up during the day and trying to put him to sleep at night is helping to turn his schedule and make things better.

Aug 18-24
Carter is very much a lap baby, when he is awake he is unhappy unless he is being carried in someone's arms. When he is sleeping he is happiest on one of our chests. The trick is to figure out how to transfer him from chest to somewhere else without waking him up!
We are finding that there is no way to change Carter's schedule before he is ready. All of our efforts to keep him up during the day and trying to make him sleep at night ended in complete failure. We will do our best and wait it out.

Sunday AUG 18
Overnight Carter only slept on Stacy's chest. They slept in the sunroom all night, because he was fussy anywhere else. We are doing that more and more, just to get some sleep. During the day Grandma and Grampa Patten came up and watched Carter while Brad and Stacy went to their first movie in months. We saw The Bourne Identity, which was great, but Stacy was distracted and wanted to get home.

Tuesday AUG 20
Tried driving Carter around to get him to fall asleep. He is still turned around on his days and nights so he is up all night. Drive didn't work. Stacy was very excited that Carter slept long enough to let her get a shower today. Believe it or not that is a luxury that doesn't some every day anymore for Stacy. She visited her work and Brad's and stayed long enough for him to get mildly fussy at each location then made her retreat.

Wednesday AUG 21
Fussy most of the day and night. Wouldn't sleep until the early morning and then only on Stacy's chest.

Thursday AUG 22
Actually not a bad night. Carter was up several times to eat but went back to sleep without too much trouble. Stacy started Infant Massage today. It may seem silly but have you read this Journal??? Then you know we will try anything!

Friday AUG 23
For some reason Carter likes Friday nights. He has had three good Friday nights in a row. Not such great days but Brad and Stacy slept in our own beds and Carter slept the whole night in the nursery, for the first time ever!

Saturday AUG 24
Slept on and off all night and day. Fussy when awake.

Aug 25-31
This week has been the best week ever for Little Carter. He is still very colicky but we are starting to notice that his days and nights are starting to switch. He is starting to have a little more awake time during the days and sleeping more during the nights. This is tough for Stacy who is along during the day to deal with all the fussiness herself. She had used the days to nap here and there to save her strength, but she quickly adapts and Brad makes it home for lunch now and then, so we are able to make it work. After some adjustment, it is far better to be on a somewhat normal schedule. We are still up until 1 or 1:30AM, instead of 6 or 7AM, but he will sleep until 7, 8 or sometimes 9, with only an hour for feeding once or twice during the night. It doesn't sound great, but trust me, we will take it!

Sunday AUG 25
The Horror, the Horror, if there was anything that could make this worse, Brad turns 30!!! Various family members and friends were around most of the day, and Carter actually did pretty well. He also had a pretty good night. It must have been his birthday present to his daddy.

Monday AUG 26
Despite the fact that he is very fussy off and on, he has extended periods of sleep during the day and night. We were very happy that his nights and days fixed themselves, and now he appears to be sleeping longer. Now if we can just get rid of the screaming! He even loads up, some nights, on feedings just before bed time.

Tuesday AUG 27
Had to put Carter down over and over again before he would go down. fussy, fussy, fussy.

Wednesday AUG 28
Carter went to bed 1AM and slept until 7:30 --- 6 1/2 hours of sleep. We couldn't believe it. He paid us back by crying most of the day. Carter was mildly soothed by his bath at the end of the day, we are looking forward to life getting better next month.