Saturday, June 10, 2006

Not under the influence

Baby just gets better and better at staying awake.

When we were in Fiji, the boy sent me to the bar to get dinner while he stayed in the bure to settle Baby for her bedtime (it would take at least half an hour of songs, rocking and crooning). As you do, I met a couple of Aussies and we got talking. One of the guys, who claimed to have parented (not just fathered) five children, recommended that I drink brandy before the next breastfeed, to help Baby sleep. So by the time I returned to the bure with our dinner, I exhibited the telltale signs of having indulged in the top shelf (i.e. a face like coal-fired barbeque).

Unfortunately, the next breastfeed did not result in a quick Baby-snooze. If anything, alcohol works way better on me than it does on her.

The day we decided to come home early from holiday ('cos we really needed a break), a fellow parent overheard my (admittedly overwrought - you know, for effect) tale of woe to the resort reception. She caught up with me later and, after confessing to having overheard my private conversation, offered to supply me with some Phenergan (the kindness of strangers, eh?). Somewhere in that conversation, she mentioned how Baby Nurofen had put a friend's baby to sleep within 20 minutes, so when I heard her offer in my mentally-deficient state, I accepted.

Unfortunately, she gave me Phenergan rather than the Nurofen.
Also unfortunately, if anything it hyped Baby up even more than usual for the flight home. (Basically, she only fell asleep as we landed at our home port, after bouncing in time to many rounds of Row Row Row Your Boat and some cleverly hypnotic finger-clicking from the boy).

I've also tried sipping camomile tea before her breastfeeds, but I don't like the taste and probably couldn't drink enough of the stuff to have any effect.

There is one glimmer of hope, though. Baby really likes turkey meat (which is a nice change from liking hash browns, oven fries and greasy sausages). Apparently turkey meat is really high in tryptophan, which can help induce sleep. And I know that for the three days at the beginning of this week, in which I gave her turkey meat for lunch, she napped pretty well (if she goes to bed without screaming blue murder and sleeps for at least an hour, that's napping pretty darned well).

Never give up, never say die.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

No, never say die - because although they're nice and quiet and still they don't actually wake up again.

Anonymous said...

If this works you should consider buying a turkey ranch..