Xiaoniu 小妞

We called it a bit early. Sue brought Caitlin to the doctor’s office on Wednesday to find out why she’s not acting better. We figured that the medicine wasn’t working and that she was still fussy because her ear infection did not go away. Nope. Her ears are fine. She’s just colicky. There goes our evenings. As if things were not difficult enough we (to be honest mostly Sue) have to deal with a screaming infant on top of making dinner, cleaning up and getting Emelia ready for bed. The only bright side is that her fussy time goes form evening until no later than 11pm. That’s a big window, but at least it is during a time when we are usually awake.

Emelia is taking it in stride. She’s still a daddy’s girl, but gets plenty of mommy time too. Mornings are mommy and Emelia’s one on one time, as long as Caitlin is still sleeping. This past week I’ve been putting Emelia to bed by myself, which is fine with me, but Emelia can be particular about routine, especially when it’s bed time. As I said she’s taking it in stride and is behaving well for me and is not crying as much if at all when I tuck her in. Thank goodness for small miracles.

We are still trying to find the cause of Caitlin’s colic. We’ve switched her to soy based formula to see if it is the lactose in the milk based stuff that is causing her discomfort. After one day it is difficult to tell, but I have my doubts that lactose is the cause of her problems. We’ll continue with the soy based formula though. Caitlin doesn’t seem to mind the taste. She’s had both Enfamil and Similac and she seems to prefer the Similac. Emelia only had Enfamil so she couldn’t complain.

Sue’s been reading up on colic and has come up with some interesting aids to quiet Caitlin down, if only for a short while. Turning on the dust buster does wonders, but that only lasts for so long before the battery dies down. Then it takes a day to fully charge. Running water does well too, but I hate to waste water. Doing laundry sometimes helps a bit, but it’s not as effective. The clock that Aunt Jeanne gave Emelia for Christmas makes sounds and the “ocean” is closest to white-noise and seems to help. In the end it’s a combination of everything that works best. A little of this and a little of that. Then there is a point at which we just let her cry. She’s fed up with our attempts to calm her and to be honest she needs to cry a bit before she’s ready to call it quits.

Sue made a comment tonight before heading up to bed that really seemed unbelievable, but very true. Caitlin is actually more demanding than Emelia. I never thought that she would be topped by the little one.