Fussy Baby Clarification

I just wanted to comment briefly on Maggie and Nancy's comments from my last post. I have the Happiest Baby on the Block book by Harvey Karp and read it intently before the baby was born, but have not had to use its methods yet to soothe a fussy baby, because frankly it's easy to soothe Charlotte. All I have to do is pick her up and hold her and she immediately stops crying. I think the Happiest Baby book is for those so-called colicky babies that literally won't stop crying for hours even when you try everything (feeding, changing, etc.).

I have also heard that the Miracle Blanket works wonders for those hard-to-swaddle babies, but Charlotte is easy to swaddle and hasn't broken free yet, even with the "Swaddle Me" blanket (or what I call the "Swaddling for Dummies," as it's super easy and I haven't mastered the super tight baby burrito skills that Chris has).

My problem is that Charlotte just loves to be held, which means that doing simple things like eating, going to the bathroom, typing, are all made super difficult. I have a sling, but maybe I'm not using it right because she's not too fond of that either. The Baby Bjorn seems to work okay, except for one small detail, Charlotte smells milk on me and won't stop squirming! At least this is what I'm interpreting to be the case because Chris does not have the same problem. :)

So I feel pretty lucky that Charlotte is not as of yet inconsolable, but it's kind of frustrating when she falls asleep in my arms and then I go to put her down and she immediately wakes up and starts crying. Maybe I'll give the Bjorn another try. Eventually, I hope, Charlotte will be alert enough for the fun things attached to the bouncer and swing to hold her interest. For now, I hold the baby and when I need to eat, I put her down and if she cries, she cries.

P.S. Tonight's trial has been to put her down at 7:30 and wake her up at 11, feed her and see how long she sleeps after that. Considering she only took one real nap today, I hope it's for a long time! Plus, I haven't stayed up this late since she was born either, so fingers crossed that it works!