March 05, 2014
My baby is teething.
You know, that sounds pretty innocuous. Like he's just knawing at stuff sometimes, chewing on one of those little ring things – or maybe a frozen carrot – and letting those little buds of teeth push through. And that's a far cry from what is actually happening. What is actually happening is night screaming – and I'm talking the back arching, kicking everything in sight, screeching, red in the face, full-on HOWLING. Coupled with this is the relentless – and I do mean relentless – all night nursing. And like “teething”, “nursing” sounds pretty innocuous. Baby tethered to mama, all gentle and in soft focus like the pictures that urge us Mamas to nurse our little ones. And that's not what's happening. What is actually happening is he chomps down on my nipple and PULLS it with his entire body while he kicks me in the stomach, pokes his finger directly in my eye, nose and does a thorough mouth examination while he's at it. It's as if one type of inflicted pain isn't enough for this kid. When I disengage him and try to latch on again gently, sans all the kicking, he starts the camper-shaking-howling. So we go at it again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. Then I start to feel like a battered mother and it was a choice between trying to let him cry it out if/when he howls when I disengage him (and chance the entire beach camp crying too) or I got lucky and he fell asleep. But then I remembered my Ergobaby Carrier. He loves his Ergo – he dives into it like a thirsty puppy dives into a bowl of water. I have found that if I put him in and just walk him at night by the beach, the sounds of the ocean waves soothe him and he can relax enough to fall asleep. When he passes the “limp hand” test (you lift up the baby's hand and gently drop it to see how fully asleep baby really is), we go back into our camper and I lean forward until his back is on the bed before I release the clasps of the Ergo. It works like a charm. Baby's happy, mama's happy. Win-win and once more, Ergo saved our day – or in this case, night.