Screaming for Attention

Time for Ami' to start sleeping in his own room. Here's how the night went: At midnight I give him his Albuterol and Napi eventually gets him back to sleep. Believe he took a "sip" at that time, and had already been sleeping for about 1.5 hours before Napi attempted to put him back in his bassinet. At 0400 the alarm goes off and I get the Albuterol going. Napi changes him, probably gave him another sip and he eventually nods off - for about 45 minutes. Somewhere around 0515 he starts kicking and screaming. Napi's response reflects the military thought on training - do it over and over again until your mind no longer has to think about it - you just react. He wakes up kicking and screaming, Napi leans over his bassinet, sticks his pacifier in his mouth and collapses back in the bed. Maybe 2 minutes elapse before he's kicking and screaming again. She repeats the "response" maybe 3 or 4 times. Finally she decides to let him work it out of his system. Only way he'll learn.

Except...the boy is absolutely howling at this point. I'm not hip to the plan yet (though I too have taken this approach and caved in for just the following reason), but the screaming is so blasted loud that I jump out of the bed, walk over to his bassinet and...stick his pacifier in his mouth and return to the sweet spot I've just found on my mattress. Around the time my head hits the pillow he spits out the pacifier and goes back to screaming. Compounding the jarring nature of the scream is the fact that he is hoarse - so what you're hearing is a peculiar yet alarming howl that just can't be ignored. So I cave in completely and get him out of his bassinet and downstairs where I attempt to fall asleep on the sofa with him resting on my chest. Doesn't work. No sooner do I stop moving than the boy starts hollering again.

Ok, so lets go with the obvious...he's hungry or needs to be changed. Check the diaper and it's dry, so that leaves me with a food problem. We received a few bottles of formula from the hospital and they are perfect for just this sort of thing. Pop the cover off, attach a disposable nipple and stick it in his mouth. Except...he doesn't want it! He's pushing the bottle as far away from his mouth as his little arms will allow and I'm just at the point of absolute frustration when he settles down and just stares at me. He does this for about 15 minutes until around 0545 when he finally falls asleep. I hold him there for about 15 minutes to make sure he's actually sleeping and then return him to his bassinet. The night is shot, it's already 0600, so I get ready for work and at 0730 I'm at my desk looking at the latest crises to come my way.

This isn't new behavior for Ami'. In fact, he's been doing this sort of thing increasingly for about a month now. He cries, carries on, and generally acts a fool until someone picks him up and soothes him. The answer to this? When he returns from St. Louis he'll arrive to his freshly constructed crib sitting in the second bedroom. Can't wait to see how he handles not being in the same room with us...