I had totally forgotten that feeling of panic until I helped take care of my neighbor’s 3 month old baby today. It wasn’t that she was fussy at all. It was my two kids. Chicken Little is extremely jealous anytime I give attention to Toddler, although he is making huge strides now that Toddler is able to play with him. Toddler, however, has never had to share me in that way before. He whined and cried incessantly.
Clearly she didn’t want to be in her carseat the whole time so when she began fussing I picked her up. I smiled at her and she looked at me with huge eyes. After an uncertain minute she smiled back. Then I smiled larger and she smiled back again. I smiled even larger, playfully throwing my head back. Apparently the sight of my open mouth and all my teeth was too much and she began wailing inconsolably.
I walked her around the house, let her look out the window and finally went down the hall to rock her. Nothing helped. Then when I came back into the living room she fixated on the sight of a large purple dinosaur singing and dancing on my television screen. She calmed right down.
The whole episode reminded me of the panic I felt with both of my kids. Chicken Little cried inconsolably for months. In the beginning I felt constant panic and frantically tried every position, every song and shush I knew, every movement I could think of. After awhile you begin to realize it’s not you and you’ve tried just about everything you can try but at first it eats you up. A smart person should be able to think their way out of colic, right?
With Lander the feeling of panic was because I had so much surgery after he was born that I wasn’t supposed to carry him for months. What if I was alone with him and he started crying? I wouldn’t be able to dip into the bag of tricks that I had developed with Chicken Little because they all involved standing up and moving around, obviously carrying the baby.
It’s amazing how overwhelming panic can be - difficulty breathing, fuzzy vision or loss of color, such extreme blood pressure surges that your ears buzz.
Panic is one of those amazing animalistic sensations that you just cannot control. Just like having an infant with reflux or colic. If you feel panic trying to soothe your little one read infant reflux and colic comfort ideas. You may find something in there that helps eliminate that feeling of panic.