Coping with a Talkative Toddler, Colicky Baby, Chores, Work, and Sleep Deprivation

Question

How can I manage the challenges of having a talkative toddler, a colicky baby, household chores, work responsibilities, and lack of sleep?

Answer 1

Your post brings back memories - well, more like foggy sleep-deprived fugues, but sort of like memories.

One thing nobody else has mentioned is some kind of professional overnight babysitting service (in my case these places called themselves overnight Doula services - this may be a useful term to search for that you may not have heard). If this exists where you live it can make a big difference. They usually sit in a chair in the baby's room so you don't need an extra room for them to sleep in.

My wife and I knew about them before we had any kids, but since it costs about as much per hour as an expensive baby sitter we thought there was no way it would be worth paying for it. But eventually we reached a point where we would have sold our internal organs to pay for it.

A night's sleep (though it won't come close to catching you up) will make a big difference. Right now part of why you have so much to do is that everything takes you longer, and you make lots of mistakes. So simply sleeping will actually help you catch up on those things, a little bit. Though you have a lot to do and to put up with, it's mostly simple exhaustion that that is making it overwhelming.

Answer 2

My eldest dd was also breast-fed and had a terrible time with colic and constantly gorging/sicking-up everything. My wife heard there was a strong chance dd could be dairy milk intolerant and that the proteins pass into breast milk. She moved off cow's milk for the remainder of breast-feeding and saw a massive improvement.

Here in the UK there's many, many alternatives to try: soya, oat, almond, rice... (Goat's milk was a little too "goaty" for our liking...) Hopefully you've got some alternatives available to you, too. Try it for a week or two; if you see no improvement, you've not lost much but tried anyway.

Good luck and keep loving your little family. They deserve all your time and love, just like you will earn theirs back ten-fold.