I’m almost afraid to say this out loud because I don’t want to jinx us…
After 3 long months, we are officially colic free!
That doesn’t sound like a long time but when you are dealing with a screaming baby, it is an eternity and feels never-ending. But, like many veteran post-colic moms reassured me, colic does come to an end. I didn’t believe them, but it does. THANK GOD it does.
The advice that we received makes me laugh now. “Just give him gripe water”. Ok, you DIDN’T have a colicky baby if gripe water worked for you. “You need to do the 5 S’s”. I plan on burning that book. “Put him in his swing”. I will do that if I want to hear him scream even louder.
Friends would tell me, “You must be loving every minute of being a mom”. They knew how badly I wanted to be a mom. It goes without saying that I love my little boy more than anything but I would lie through my teeth when said that I enjoyed being a mom those first few months. It was stressful. It was challenging. I think with a non-colicky baby it still would have been challenging. This made it that much more challenging.
Don’t get me wrong, there were moments that I enjoyed. Like when he would snuggle up to me while I wore him. Or when he would just stare at me with those big eyes. Or when he would fall asleep in my arms. I even got sad packing away his newborn sized clothes. It almost made me miss those first few months.
But there were also many moments that made me burst out in tears right along with my baby. Or that made me question myself as a mom. Or made me think, “What the heck did you get yourself into!”
Colic turned me into a recluse. Going anywhere without my white noise cd or swaddle blankets or bathtub or anything else that kept him calm for 10 minutes was out of the question. Now when we’re out people will comment on how calm and quiet Logan is. I think to myself, “You should have met him a month ago”.
So now that I’m a post-colic veteran mom, I will leave my fellow moms of colicky babies with some words of wisdom. This too shall pass. I’m not lying. You don’t have to enjoy every minute of motherhood. It is ok to not answer the phone to the friend that calls you up to talk about her perfect angel baby who has never cried a second in his life. It is normal to feel like you don’t have a clue. Once your baby gives you that first smile (coincidentally right around the time that colic ends) you will, for just a second, forget that colic even existed.
But just for a second because you will still hear phantom cries. You might even have PCTSD (post colic traumatic stress disorder), where any little cry will send you into colic mode. Colic mommies know what I’m talking about. You turn on the white noise, run a bath, turn on the swing, get the swaddle blanket ready.
But when your baby laughs for the first time, you will fall in love all over again. Just like you did when you first saw him. Of course, you will think your husband is crazy when he speaks of trying for #2. And then you will think that you are crazy for even considering it.
Goodbye Colic.
Logan is 16 weeks & 3 days old. He is officially over colic.
