Turning Godzilla into the Sleeping Giant

When today began, the angry baby was actually not all that angry. In fact, he seemed downright content throughout the morning and most of the afternoon... but once evening came, the angry baby returned with a vengeance.

So, how do you turn an angry baby into a happy one - or at least one that's willing to fall asleep? Well, in general, we've found the following are some of Austin's favorite things:

1. Milk... lots of milk (formula actually... and lately he seems to prefer the Gentlease over his special hypo-allergenic high maintenance kind - a good sign!)
2. Being held. Austin loves to be held.
   
3. If holding him isn't doing it, then you have to add walking to the mix. The only thing Austin likes more than being held is being held by someone who's walking around.
4. Gripe water - liquid gold! (basically appears to be the equivalent of sugar water with a few herbs thrown in to make it sound really special)
5. The swaddler. We are horrible at swaddling. The arms always find their way out. But fortunately, you can buy a swaddler for dummies - it's soft and cozy for the baby with velcro enclosures for the swaddler-challenged parents. You gotta have the non-stretchy kind of swaddlers though - or he'll still wiggle his way out!
6. Someone rubbing a finger lightly across his cheek and chin while making that "Shhhhhh" sound.
   
7. A Binky. The no-brainer... but Austin doesn't always want his binky. And he seems to have inherited his mom's ultra-sensitive gag reflex. So, even when he does want the binky, he sometimes has a tough time keeping it in his mouth.
8. More milk. Just like Tyler when he was a newborn, Austin is a bit of a piggy - and he loves his milk.
   

And if none of those work, then we really are scewed until he decides to cut us a break... Fortunately, one of the those things above will usually be successful - it just might not always be the choice we were hoping for (such as wanting to be held when you want to go to sleep!)

Tonight was one of those nights when we pretty much had to go through the list to get him to agree it was time for bed. So, what does an evening with the angry baby look like? First he gets his milk... then he gets a clean diaper and swaddled. Looks content. Goes into the bassinet. A few moments pass before the warning call comes - "Nyeh". Give baby a binky. Binky promptly pops back out. Reinsert binky. It pops out. After about 5 rounds of this, the binky finally stays. For about a minute. Give up on binky. Hold baby and walk around for a few minutes. Maybe he has a bubble stuck, so try to burp baby. Small burp. Put baby back in bassinet. "Nyeh, Nyeh". Binky game replays. Take baby out of bassinet and give to hubby to snuggle with him in bed. Hubby is like a human furnace - so it seems to provide an ultra snuggly environment for angry babies - but, tonight, no dice.

Next comes the gripe water. Baby LOVES gripe water. But doesn't love when the gripe water is all gone. Finally, we give up. Solution of last resort is to give baby more milk and hope for a "milk coma" - that pleasant moment when baby falls fast asleep with an overstuffed belly, much the same way as adults pass out after a big meal on Thanksgiving day.

Judging from the silence coming from the other room, it seems we were finally successful with the milk coma approach. When in doubt, pull out the milk - Yay milk!

At least he's gradually starting to spend more of each day as a happy baby than an angry one as he gets older! And nothing give you that warm fuzzy feeling as much as when you get to see an "angry baby" smile and hear him happily coo! (and yes, he really does coo!)