Back from the Land of Cranky

If you asked us, and anyone who spent a day or two with him, what words you’d use to describe Felix, you’d hear things like mellow, easy, easy-going.  When my parents were here over Christmas, they made the observation that he only ever cried when he needed something, then he got it, and was quiet again.

So imagine my dismay when we entered a period of extreme fussiness.  He was cranky, overdramatic, constantly crying, and damn near impossible.  I first chalked it up to another growth spurt, he tends to get a little moody occasionally, around those times.  But when, instead of it going away around the third day, it only got worse, I didn’t know what to think.  It reached a fever pitch last week and though I didn’t have the sense that anything was actually wrong, my mom suggested I call the pediatrician, just to be on the safe side.  She said that I’d had a period of crying & screeching, without a fever or any ear tugging, but it turned out I’d had an ear infection.  I almost wondered if he was teething early, because boy oh boy, you can see the outlines of every one of his teeth in his gums, and it almost feels like one of them is bulging out a little bit.  Hard to tell.  But I tried some homeopathic teething tablets, with chamomile, to almost no avail.

I called our pediatrician and said, “I figure it’s nothing, but thought I’d call just in case.”  She said it didn’t sound entirely normal, so bring him in.

Oh, he’s fine, of course.  Healthy as can be.  (In fact, he’s now up to over 25 inches and 13lbs.)

The pediatrician uttered the dreaded words.  “Colic.” COLIC.  MY super easy, quiet little baby.  Sigh.

Two days before, it had reached it’s peak – I was in the spare room sobbing on the phone to my mom while he cried in our bedroom, with the door closed.  You know that feeling, when you have to get away, right now. I’d called Mr Nikki at work and he rushed home because he’d never heard me wail, “I can’t take anymore of this!!” before.  (Hence, my mom decided to come out for a long weekend, again, to give us a break.)

The pediatrician suggested we use pure chamomile water – not the mixes you can buy at the store (like the ones I’d tried), but PURE chamomile water. (And giving him a pinch of my probiotic supplements a couple times a day.)  Chamomile is well known for it’s relaxing effects.  He gave us a small bottle of it and hoooooooooooooooooly shit.

It works.  It’s like a magical elixir.

Felix has never been much of a napper.  He’s gotten maybe about 10 hours of sleep per day, since somewhere around week 4 or 5.  *I* suspected that it wasn’t “colic” so much as his lack of sleep finally catching up with him.

That day, and the day after, I gave him a couple eye droppers full of the water and he napped. He napped for HOURS.  A couple times.  Both days.  He also slept in 5-6 hour stretches again, both nights.

The third day I didn’t give him any of it, nor today – and still, he naps.  He’s been perfectly calm, fussing mildly only when he needs something, taking long naps and sleeping in long stretches throughout the night.

GOLD.  Chamomile is GOLD, in my book.

Today I’ve had so much time to do other things, besides watch over him, that I really don’t know what to do with myself.  He was either napping, or sitting peacefully in his swing or laying on his mat, cooing happily and looking around.  He’s totally back to his old self.

So I just wanted to share that, for anyone else out there who’s dealing with a cranky child, be it a day or a week, whether it’s inexplicable crankiness or “colic” or sickness.  Chamomile is absolutely safe, you can give them as much as they need to chill them out.  Though I highly recommend the PURE chamomile and not the tablets or teas that consist of chamomile & something else.  You can even make your own, which I intend to do, once the bottle I have runs out.  Simply buy a bag of chamomile (dried, leaves) and steep them in hot water, drain out the leaves & let it cool and VOILA! Magic potion.