Oh no. :(

Athena is two weeks old today. Yesterday at her check she weighed a good 9 pounds and was 21.2 inches long, and was given a clean bill of health. The RN told me that the latest theory in colic is that at some point in the day they are overstimulated and to look back on the day to see where they might have gotten it and to try and reduce it. I asked her when colic started and she said .... two weeks.

Okay. So Athena was great all day -- though she did feed almost every two hours for the last 24 hours. Tonight she started to spit up a little again and what's worse is that when she would eat she would pull away in sudden crying fits. Tim and I both think it's pretty clear she has reflux.

Today I ate a lot of lasagna for lunch, and had pizza for dinner and garlic bread. So it could be the garlic, onions and large amounts of dairy that brought this on. I know, it's just one day and to reduce the dairy to see if that helps. But you know what? One day is already bad enough to bring back all of the memories of Morella's first six months. We know that dairy is what caused Morella to have her problems (or at least I heavily suspect it) so I guess I should count that as having one clue to the puzzle.

But god, can we do another round of this? Crying uncontrollably every single night for hours on end? Never knowing when you are going to sleep? Not knowing if every little thing you eat is going to cause it? Wondering, doubting, and grasping at straws for an answer?

I mean, do normal non reflux babies have nights where they cry like this? Where they pull away from the breast/bottle in seeming pain?

She is in the cradle swing right now with the noise button on. Tim tried to turn it off and she howled. Am I going to spend my night on the couch waiting for her to really be asleep?

Breath. Calm down. It's one night. Don't eat dairy tomorrow and see if tomorrow is any better. Take it one day at a time. One hour. And yes, I know, it will pass. One day, it will pass and she will go to bed like Morella and sleep the night through and no longer seem to be in pain. But when you are only at the two week mark looking down the path to follow, it sure as heck seem long, dark and unhappy for everyone involved.

On a somewhat better note, the nightly anxiety I was feeling has decreased. Thank god. I can only imagine how much worse it would make tonight if that wasn't the case. On the other hand I would rather take the few hours of anxiety if it meant that we didn't have nights like this.