It’s funny, when you have a baby all of a sudden people are drawn to talk to you. It happens all the time especially at the shops. Most times they are complete strangers! It’s like: if you have a baby you must want to have a chat. They, “just want to say that you’re baby is absolutely beautiful! She truly is a beautiful baby.” Then they want to know how old she is, “oh really, she looks younger [maybe she takes after her father!]. Is she small?” I always say, “she’s average, but perhaps on the lower side of average.” Thankfully I don’t mind… except when she’s crying!
People suggest so many funny things to make a baby stop crying. To be honest, Aurora’s crying really doesn’t bother me. It’s just her way of telling me that she wants something or something’s wrong. Most times she only cries when she wakes up suddenly and she’s hungry, when she’s going to sleep and she really wants to suck something or when she gets a fright (then it’s daddy who gets in trouble). It’s fine when she cries for these reasons; I can fix them easily. Feed her, give her a dummy, tell daddy to play nicely. But, occasionally she cries because she has a tummy ache from wind in her belly… this is not good. She screams and screams and I can’t do anything except pat her back, rub her tummy, cuddle and reassure her.
Like I said before it doesn’t bother me when Aurora cries. It’s especially fine when we’re at home but when we’re out it’s a bit harder. I know it bothers other people so I get embaressed imagining they will think that I’m a bad mother. I also feel very protective of Aurora because I know they’ll be getting annoyed at her for crying and she really is a lovely girl! She’s very friendly and well-behaved, really.
It is at these times that the ‘helpful’ suggestions come hard and fast. “Put her over you’re shoulder,” “lie her down flat,” “put her on her tummy,” “swing her,” “pat her,” “rock her,” “sing to her,” “turn her upside down,” “give her a dummy,” “is she hungry?” “Is her nappy wet?” “did something bite her?” “are you pinching her?” (that’s a really common one, though usually in jest) “why don’t you give her a bottle?” “why don’t you just leave her with your mum next time?” “why don’t you just leave her with Josh?” “tie the dummy in her mouth,” “have you tried putting some brandy in her milk?”
Some (definitely NOT all) of these are good suggestions but they have their time and place. Can I just say: when Aurora has wind (I know because she’s burping and ‘passing wind’ like she’s eaten garlic, baked beans and onion all together) about all I can do is give her a dummy (if she’ll take it) and wait until the wind is gone. No amount of brandy or other liquor in her milk will help!
… Just something to think about.