Rachael: What Colic's Really Like
print
single page
Wondertime: So with twins, if she's crying all the time, does that set him off?
No, it doesn't really make him upset. I don't know if he's so used to it, she's always been crying. I mean, they sleep in the same crib, she'll be screaming and he'll sleep right through it. He'll scream on his own, too, but luckily, she does not set him off. I've been reading books on twins and they say they get used to each other. Doesn't really faze him — he's just like "Oh, another day in the life."
Wondertime: Do you have any coping techniques, for when she's crying and crying and you just feel helpless?
For me, I had help. I really didn't have any coping techniques. Mostly I was just holding her and rocking her. My mother-in-law was with me the first month, and when I would just get so exhausted, she would take over and just kind of hold her, walk her. She seemed to like the movement. And then my mom's been here the last couple months. So really, the only coping technique I guess is just having help.
My husband works during the days, and so at nighttime he comes home and takes over for me, does the nighttime feeding, gives her a bath, lot of walking. With the twins, there's always someone who has to help. One of our moms is usually here to take over; when they were here it would give me a break to kind of get out of the house a little bit.
So that was pretty much it, mostly just trying to get enough sleep, and mostly realizing that she's just a baby. We mostly felt sorry for her. We never really got mad. I would just get, like you said, that helpless feeling, where I felt so bad she was in pain, and she can't talk, and I didn't know what I could do to make it better. So, a lot of just holding her and rocking her and talking softly.
Wondertime: And were there any products — swings, bouncy chairs — that helped soothe her?
I did put her in a bouncy chair. That didn't always work, but if she was calm, a lot of times she would go to sleep. Oh, I just remembered one thing I'd use: a heating pad. If it looked like she was cramping up, we would swaddle her real tight, and we'd put a heating pad on low over the swaddle, and put her in the bouncy chair. I forgot. We don't have to do that anymore, but we did do that that first month. I don't know if it was the warmth of it, and the vibration of the bouncy chair, but she did seem to like that. So I forgot, at nighttime, we would do that.
The swing? She did okay in the swing. Christian really liked the swing, but Savannah liked the bouncy chair, more than that, I think the heating pad, just the warmth on her stomach. I don't know if that eased it or what, but she did like that.
< previous | 2 | next >
