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04/06/2005
1800 seconds
In my head, Charlie's life is full of clocks: a clock starts ticking when he finishes his meal, so I'll have an idea when he might be hungry again, when he goes to sleep -- count every second gratefully -- or when he fills his diaper, so that I have some idea when he might be angry and straining again. Even when he's in his gym kicking at the toys, or watching his mobile, there's a little timer in the back of my mind ticking off the minutes till he starts getting those overstimulated shakes.
I try to think more in terms of chess clocks than of the blinking LEDs that grace every made-for-TV bomb ever created. You know, the bombs with all the booby traps so that they'll go off the moment you try to move or disarm them.
Which brings me to the longest half hour in Charlie's day: the time between when he gets a dropper full of Prevacid to control his reflux and when he can start sucking down his next bottle. (It took us a few days of complaining that his new medicine wasn't working worth a damn to read the warnings not to give milk less than 60 minutes before or 30 minutes after a dose.) But if you're Charlie waking up hungry and swallowing a nice gulp of what tastes like yummy food, only to be told the next gulp is in forever, package inserts are slim comfort.
How long is 30 minutes? Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi is a minute, and don't think he's not potentially alert and ready to blow for every one of them. We change him, we make him stare at his mobile, we give him a bath, today I slung him and took him for a nice sedative walk in the park. Tomorrow, who knows?
Perhaps I shall get him a watch and just explain calmly and reasonably that he can't eat until the requisite time has gone by. Do you think I should get him a digital watch or analog?
Posted by paul at 04:47 PM in Charles in charge, Paul scrawl | Permalink
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Comments (29)
Sundial. That'll confound the little bastard.
Posted by: Julie at Apr 6, 2005 5:08:08 PM
Analog. They're cuter (more cute?) I think.
Posted by: Monique at Apr 6, 2005 5:24:24 PM
I'm leaning toward analog. At this age it will be so much easier to teach him that he can't eat until the big hand has moved halfway across the dial than to teach him to read numbers and that 16 plus 30 is 46, but 53 plus 30 is 23.
Posted by: paul at Apr 6, 2005 5:30:06 PM
Analog. Easier to lose track of how many seconds have gone by and then he'll have to start all over. It will keep him on his toes & focused in the very least. And think of his joy when you come to him sooner than he expected because of his losing track....
Posted by: Boulder at Apr 6, 2005 5:51:37 PM
I completely forgot about that time lag thing. We didn't have prevacid - just zantac and reglan, and one of them had to be 10 minutes prior, and oh........ what a long 10 minutes that was. I can't imagine 30.
To answer the question - analog - I agree that they are prettier. And you can get kids' version with the words hour and minute on the hands.
Posted by: Tracy at Apr 6, 2005 6:11:08 PM
Analog of course. And since he is still so young, you might want those big ones, that hang on the wall, the kind with the bird coming out of a small house above the number plate every half an hour. That'll keep him occupied for a couple of days... :)
Posted by: Leonid at Apr 6, 2005 6:22:54 PM
You are the best dad ever.
Posted by: Angie at Apr 6, 2005 6:40:54 PM
a digital Batman watch, of course.
Posted by: Mandy at Apr 6, 2005 6:44:41 PM
A sand clock. At least you get to flip it every minute. May provide a nice outlet to release frustration.
Posted by: Menita at Apr 6, 2005 7:12:16 PM
As a kid, when time meant so little to me, I gauged things in terms of 'How many Three's Company episodes' until something was going to happen. Like, right now, there are two more Three's Company episodes before I go to bed.....
Maybe try that? Heck, it'd only be ONE Three's Company episode that he'd have to wait!!
:)
Posted by: Lisa at Apr 6, 2005 10:19:24 PM
Lisa~ You're cracking me up! But I gauged it by Facts of Life.
Potayto-potahto
I also like the sand clock idea. But one of those wristband ones like in the cartoons...
They do have 30 min sand clocks
Posted by: upnorth or not at Apr 6, 2005 11:55:58 PM
I think one of those cute analog ones with flying pigs on the hands. Either that or go completely kitsch with a mock swiss cuckoo clock. Or read to him from one of the great classics.
(seriously, my husband happened to be reading the Odyssey when our son was born, so he'd heard the whole thing by the time he was three months old- it seemed to keep him entertained...)
Posted by: e at Apr 7, 2005 3:49:42 AM
One of those nice Flava Flav clocks will do fine.
Posted by: AyEnDeeAreEeAyAitch at Apr 7, 2005 1:16:05 PM
Definitely analog. You can put a sticker on the 30 minute mark and tell him "when the hand reaches the little smiley face" as timing. Plus, he won't be one of the many kids I have encountered who have *no idea* how to read an analog clock. Augh!
Posted by: dish at Apr 7, 2005 2:08:54 PM
Analogue clock-reading is a peculiar skill, I reckon. My eleven-year old son, whilst possessed of a well above average intellignece, still struggles with telling the time, while his seven and ten-year old sisters learned in a matter of minutes (ha!). We started teaching all three when they were around four years of age, so you imagine how delighted we are that the boy still can't do it. Maybe it has something to do with that door jamb after all...
Posted by: e at Apr 7, 2005 2:16:43 PM
Analog, of course.
I want to chime in (hahaha) and mention that when we were all going crazy with the no-sleep thing, we used _Healthy Sleep Habit, Happy Child_ and it SAVED. OUR. LIVES. It's hard to do cry-it-out, but believe me, he was crying SO much more before we did it, from miserable exhaustion. I would do it again in a heartbeat. (thump)
Posted by: sleeky at Apr 7, 2005 3:01:01 PM
When my baby first came along my clock was the TV. "When did I last feed him? Oh yeah, Ellen was dancing so it must've been about 3:10pm" I don't watch TV anymore now that he's so much fun and not just torture. I should blog about this myself.
Posted by: Sarah at Apr 7, 2005 3:32:07 PM
That's two in a row from Paul. I hope Julie's feeling better.
Posted by: m at Apr 7, 2005 7:00:26 PM
I do the same thing. Megan ate at this time. I have 3.5-4.0 hours until the next one. I have to change both babies. Feed other children. Read books. Do homework. Clean. Yell, cry, scream!
I have four kids and there are alot of things that don't get done due to my daughter's constant emptying stomach! If I could get her on the boys schedule life would be so much easier.
Posted by: jenni at Apr 8, 2005 1:13:05 AM
Hi, Im a lurker but I wanted you to know you are definitely not alone...Momhood is a huge change that happens in every piece of you. I do volunteer work here in Boston for new parents by phoning them and talking to them about their feelings as new parents. It takes a long time to work a lot of stuff out even in the most normal of situations never mind what your journey has been and a colicky baby which can easily become a huge hurdle to enjoying yourself. I guess i just wanted to tell you that the hating it is so so normal. To me it means you are a most loving parent who realizes how much responsibility your little guy brings and how desperately you do not want to fail at any aspect parenthood. And that right there means that you give a lot of yourself to your family and that's a heck of a lot more than some people.
Posted by: Kathy at Apr 8, 2005 10:37:28 AM
Warning -- assvice to follow. Although, if I *really* want it to be assvice I'd have to preface it with, "well, if you were a _good_ father you'd know..." ;)
You might want to try front-loading the Prevacid, though there may be a downside...
A baby will suckle in their sleep, so if you can sort of guess about when is going to be 30 or forty minutes before he wakes up, and kind of sneak a dropper full into his mouth while he's still sleeping.
That way he wakes up 30 minutes after the dose, and he's ready to eat.
I realize this risks waking a sleeping baby, and that's no small risk. Especially a sleeping Batman. But I'm hoping that if you do it for a day or so, he'll get used to the mid-nap dropper and then be all with the happy on the wake-and-feed side of it.
Worst case scenario is that he wakes up and cries for a half hour, which is what he's doing now anyway. Except you lose a half hour of the nap, but he'll probably make that up sometime.
Just floating an idea.
--FD
Posted by: FrumDad at Apr 8, 2005 12:14:46 PM
More assvice, or rather, an assuggestion...
Maybe there's some sort of compromise time that would work for Charlie, somewhere between 0 and 30 minutes?
After all, that 30 minute instruction has to be the peak of some bell curve based on a sample of subjects. And it probably was more like 27.8 minutes, anyway, but they had to round it up for the people who actually took a moment to READ THE PACKAGE INSERT (sorry! couldn't resist...) but who have difficulty calculating the 48 seconds part. *Some* of those subjects had to be fine with feeding less than 30 minutes after the meds were administered, right?
So, perhaps you could try waiting 25 minutes after you give it, and if that seems to work, then maybe try 20 minutes, or 22, or 24, or whatever you're comfortable with.
(Me, I'm such a bad mom I would jump right in and try 15 minutes...)
Just another idea.
Posted by: Christine at Apr 8, 2005 4:13:27 PM
We never waited the default time between giving our son the antacid and feeding him. In fact, I think we just abandoned that whole method altogether... we gave him the medicine on a schedule regardless of when he ate. We always just fed him when he was hungry. He was on Zantac and Urecholine (or something like that). The antacid still worked.
Posted by: Lisa C. at Apr 8, 2005 6:52:55 PM
Playing with the delay time for the prevacid sounds like a good idea. Anyone who wants to can come up and take care of Charlie for the 24 hours of screaming and throwing up if the delay turns out to be too short...
Posted by: paul at Apr 8, 2005 8:00:32 PM
<>
Okay, in my sleep-deprived state (3.5 month old twins asleep at the moment) I am not quite understanding this. Does this mean you have the option to feed him first, then give him the medicine after an hour? I'm not quite getting it. But doesn't that mean you could give it to him while he's awake and playing after having eaten? Maybe Charlie is different, but our boys are very awake in the afternoons and I could definitely find the time to get that medicine in an hour after feeding them.
Not assvice, just not quite understanding this.
Posted by: Kathleen at Apr 8, 2005 10:37:30 PM
You were my reading yesterday! I read the blog. I started thinking about how we were so different, because I had no infertility issues with my 3 children, but then got to the preemie and pre-eclampsya. Your story then hit me like a ton of bricks.
Then here I was. Your fucks were just where I would have put them...my tears were just flowing...and here I am a total stranger.
My 30 week preemie, 17 surgeries later...is a beautiful 10 year old Priness..(going on 15 thinking she needs a cell phone)! I have a 6 year old who have me the worst pre eclampsyia known to womankind....bedrest and weight gain from hell...followed by natural! UGH She'd go back in if she could. Oh and yes...I too have a super hero. He is Spiderman. When I call him Sam or Sammy...I have been told Never ever ever to call him that again. He is Spiderman. :)
Hint on the breast feeding for preemies. I know you probably get sooo much of it. Hints. However, this is something that I found that really really is something. The latching...big woop. I like you, just went on like it was another day. My kids are all bonded and totally well adjusted normal kids. However Colic and Preemies...ALL of mine found that the Soy was much easier on the tummy. Hunny...we have million dollar babies. A little formula will not kill them at this point...lol. You know. It's a thought...put it in the back of your mind. I just think it's something to do with the mag. It was especially hard on my second daughter who had the most mag. I ended up on the really expensive formula after I pumped forever!
Ok..."assvice" i guess is the term. I just have lived the preemie colic hell. Yes it is that. Like my wonderful crazy mother says, "Christie crying is their exercise." :) Just think .... Charlie is getting in great shape.
I love your site and will read often...
Christie
Posted by: christie at Apr 9, 2005 9:05:46 AM
Digital.
Posted by: Laura at Apr 9, 2005 10:34:33 AM
Uh, it seems fitting that he have a sporty binary watch. http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/watches/6a17/
My bro-in-law has one and the calming blue glow just lulls our 15 month old.
Then you can tell Charlie that he can eat when the blue dots are at the ...oh wtf, I have to count in my head by twos to figure the damn thing out. But babies have a binary instinct, don't they?
FWIW, I found your blog when Google-ing for who sang "Julie, Julie" back when I was a kid and Dad made me wear headphones so I wouldn't crack the plaster with the stereo volume (in case you need to know, it was Bobby Sherman). And I've now spent 2 nights frantically reading to get to the part where Charlie is healthy and you and Paul get to relax in the wonder of parenthood. I'm still reading. I know I'll get there one of these early mornings.
Our son was born 5.5 weeks early with a diaphragmatic hernia which had gone undiagnosed despite having numerous level II ultrasounds at the pre-natal clinic of our esteemed state univ (also in CT - I wonder if it was the same hospital as you were entrenched). 4 pounds, 4 ounces (now 22 pounds and ogk ounces). Said pre-natal clinic has a doc from hell who told us at 19 weeks that we should abort because our son's heart was on the right side of his chest (instead of the left). And this bit of wisdom uttered to a previously deleriously happy couple who came in for a quick look at an "uncooperative" baby who did not allow our O/G to see said heart. Uttered after not one question of who we were or what we thought about life. Just uttered, more as an aside, and to send us into frenetic bouts of panic for the next 16 weeks. Much to our damn-you-all-to-hell-you-evil-doctor-who-should-not-work-with-at-risk-pregnancies-for-you-have-not- one-ounce-of-compassion glee, said un-aborted preemie boy is now a walking, climbing, happy 15.5 month old.
I am with you in spirit through all of your trials...I have travelled many of the same horrifying paths as you have (what do you mean, he almost didn't make it...why didn't anyone tell us he was that bad at 3 am when I called [while pumping, natch]??????), and many that you will be enjoying soon.
For anyone interested, pictures of the little dude are at rickyhans.com (warning, several hundred pics - some downright humiliating for him in the future).
Be well. I'll keep reading...
Posted by: Tracy at Apr 28, 2005 2:10:27 AM
I'm a Googler trying to find "baby zantac 30 min after feeding" ...what do i come across...this site, filled with different stories of different babies! My story reads: my 3.5 month Peanut was put on Zantac at 3 weeks old, and I HATED the 30 minute wait. One doc said "she needs it!!" and the other doc said "no". I agreed, it was more of a hassle...so after a formula change to soy, she was doing fine again! I still continued the upright feedings, and 45 degree angle sleeping position. Well, after 2 fun filled months...the hell arose again. Crying - for 26 out of 24 hours, calling a relative just so I could bathe my stinky ass. Finally, after a week of trying all posible solutions, I went back to the doctor. The diagnosis - no more cereal, switch to Alimentum formula, and back on the Zantac... wow! Needless to say I felt horrible for putting her through the pain of acid reflux; but now my my baby is back! happy as can be.
The remaining question, (no help, thanks to Google) WHY DO WE HAVE TO WAIT 30 MIN AFTER A FEEDING!!??? How necessary is it, and why do you have to wait at all?
Right now, I'm slipping the oral syringe in during a nap (and getting a horrible curled up "nasty" face, followed by an eyes wide open look), OR giving it and setting my baby blob in a boppy infront of a much needed episode of spongebob and waiting for the "come pick me up, I'm so pist" cry, OR hiding in another room, slipping in the syringe, and then running in the next room handing her off to daddy saying, "here, i have to pee" and then disappearing to do some chores for 30 min! Whatever works for you and your baby blob is what you should do (these are just what works for me)...
but if ANYONE can please help find the awnser to my burning question....i'm just a curious mom wanting to understand the reasoning behind this "heafty drug".
Love the blog.
PS> Read Jenny McCarthy's, Baby Laughs for the "baby blob" meaning...the book took 2 days to read, and was such a stress releiver! Finally a good book, from someone I've heard of, who tells it like it flippin' is!
Send to: earthlink.net
Posted by: msonder at Feb 4, 2007 11:25:47 PM
