Ruth is going to be four weeks on Thursday, April 16th and all we've done since she has been born is survive! Watching our daughter sleep, eat, scream at us while we change her diapers and cry is what we've been occupied with day after day. Our red-haired little girl literally quacks like a duck when her temper flares up. First she coughs a couple of times and then begins a "whah, whah" cry. If she isn't taken care of immediately, she turns a dark red and quacks like Donald Duck. At that point, SHE IS FURIOUS! Lawson has christened her with the nickname; Ducky which I think is adorable.. Babycenter.com sent me an article with a video attached that explained the different cries of babies and what they mean. When a baby makes the "nuh, nuh" sound by moving the tongue up to the roof of the mouth, it means "hungry." This made perfect sense to me since babies move their tongues up during feeding sessions. After a nursing session I put Ruth on my shoulder and burp her by patting her back firmly. Lawson on the other hand, will "burp" Ruth but much more softly, claiming that patting her any harder will hurt her. A routine I have come up with is: change the diaper, feed, then pat her back and put her down for a nap by swaddling her tightly in a blanket. Putting her down for a nap doesn't always work. Babies have light and heavy sleep cycles and it takes a good 20 minutes or so for Ruth to settle into a deep sleep. During the light sleep stage, she will make little baby noises and her eyes move underneath her eyelids. In a deep sleep, Ruth's eyes do not move under her eyelids and she breathes in and out, sometimes moving her head, just a little.
