Thinking About Going Out to Dinner with a Colicky Baby?

It's not really the best idea. When my son D was 5 months old, we went to a retirement party for one of my husband's professors at a local Olive Garden.

It was the first time we went out to eat after D was born. We brought the gas medicine, and I think we even gave him some just before going into the restaurant. We brought him some rice cereal and toys to keep him entertained. He did great until just before the food arrived. He started getting a little fussy, then a little fussier. I took him into the restroom and he began a full blown screaming fit. I was horribly embarrassed. If you've had a baby with colic, you know that there is just not much you can do to get the baby to calm down. And it's so awful when it happens in public because everyone looks at you like you're a horrible mother. I tried everything, I even stood there in one of the stalls and tried to nurse him. Nothing worked, he just kept screaming louder and louder. I had to walk all the way through the restaurant, with him screaming the whole way (and everyone craning their necks to see what was going on), to tell my husband I was going out to the car.

It was an awful experience. We didn't go out to eat again for months. Not until D was about 10 mos old and over the colic. We usually don't go out to eat very often, but when we do we just make sure to take plenty to keep the two little ones occupied (crayons and paper seem to work well with D [who is almost 3 yrs old now], and crackers or snacks for baby B). And if it starts to get a little crazy, we just get our food to go!

This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as part of a sweepstakes sponsored by Burger King Corp.

Bruce Springsteen Tames the Beast!

When I was very young I desperately wanted that Rick Springfield album with "Jesse's Girl" on it for Christmas. Imagine my disappointment when I got Bruce Springsteen "Born in the U.S.A." instead. I was quite devastated. I think I was maybe 12 or 13 and had a huge crush on Rick Springfield. And hated Bruce Springsteen. The last names were too similar and my mother had forgotten to take my list. I was crushed. Oh well, I got over it. (Although I'm sure I've given my mom crap about it several times since).
Anyway, I was less than thrilled to find out that Bruce Springsteen was one of my hubby's faves. Luckily he only has the greatest hits CD and I do actually like the songs "Streets of Philadelphia" and "Secret Garden," so it has been on my tolerable list.
That is until we discovered it was a secret weapon. My husband had slid it into the CD changer at some point without my knowing it. We were on our way home from visiting with family almost 3 hours away, when about halfway home baby B became inconsolable. She'd been fed and changed and was still screaming her butt off. Until my husband, out of frustration, turned on the CD player and turned the volume up. It was the Bruce Springsteen Greatest Hits CD. About the second or third song into it she went to sleep. He said she liked the Boss. I thought it was a fluke. I took the CD out of the changer.
Last weekend, same thing - baby B became inconsolable on the way home. We've decided that she just doesn't like being in the car in the dark because she will be fine riding around during the day, but once it starts to get a little dark she starts the screaming fits. So anyway, she starts in not too long after we left and my husband pushes the CD #1 slot... and no Boss... luckily I at least left it in the car, so it only took a few minutes to get it back in the #1 slot... and once again 2 or 3 songs into it baby B was zonked out. Now I do not doubt the power of the Boss to calm a screaming infant. It worked like a charm again the next day (as we took trips on Sat and Sun this past weekend). It has made my will stay in the #1 slot in the changer for all of eternity list.