By the end of the day...what am I saying, it never ends...I feel exhausted by the amount of effort it takes to get my little one to sleep. Let me rephrase that, getting him to sleep isn't too complicated. Well, I have had to learn a few tricks. I rock him, feed him, and cover his eyes with a burp cloth (if not, he will stay bright-eyed for quite some time) No, getting him to sleep isn't so bad, but getting him to stay asleep...that's darn near impossible. I feel like I spend my whole day, and night, putting him down ever so gently, sneaking out of the room, only to hear him begin screaming a few minutes later. It's a process that usually takes at least an hour. This really stinks at night. He's quiet and seems asleep so I excitedly make my way back to bed, curl up under the chilly covers, and when I finally begin to get warm and drift off into dreamland...I hear it. Sometimes he gives a quick cry and then stops for a minute. I sit there wondering if I really heard it, if my brain is so filled with baby cries that I hear them even when they're nonexistent, or if it was just a bad dream. I never can decide so I start to fall cautiously back to sleep when I hear an even more shrill scream. The second time there's no denying it. So I drag myself back to his room, wondering what hoops I will have to jump through to get him to go back to sleep.

We found out yesterday that a big reason he's having these sleep issues is acid reflux. I've kinda thought he had refux ever since we brought him home. But lately it's gotten bad enough that I had to make an appointment. Keaton fusses the minute you put him down and he wants to eat constantly. And he's not possibly hungry that much. The doc said it's comfort eating. The milk, for the time being, pushes the acid down making him feel better. The problem is, it's a vicious cycle because it actually makes him feel worse in the long run. Good news is, he's gained 13 ounces this week...which is quite a bit.

So our doc prescribed him Zantac and then also suggested we put him on a soy-based formula. He thinks because of Keaton's reflux symptoms and his eczema, that he most likely may have a milk intolerance...which stinks. But I am excited that hopefully Keaton can start feeling better, sleeping better, and not grimacing and crying out in pain as he eats. We shall see.

It's funny, before I had kids I had NO idea how hard it can be to get them to sleep...when you want them to. I thought if it was naptime you just fed your little one, lay them down in the crib, and walked out of the room to enjoy your free time while the baby slept. I didn't realize that it would take the little one 30 minutes to eat and then I would be spending at least 30-45 more minutes trying to get my little one to stay asleep when I put him down.

What they fail to mention on TV and in the movies!