By Emily Ramirez, Parenting Writer & Mom of Two
February 19th changed everything. Our family of two became three, and I thought I had it all figured out. Spoiler alert: I didn't.
The first few weeks? Pure bliss mixed with exhaustion. Coffee became my lifeline as I adjusted to life with a healthy newborn boy, a supportive husband, and every "must-have" baby gadget money could buy. I was tired, sure, but overwhelmingly happy.
Then week five hit, and everything fell apart.
The Day My Angel Baby Started Screaming
My son went from peacefully sleeping to waking every 45 minutes in what sounded like genuine pain. I kept telling myself it was normal – newborns fuss, right? But "hell week" arrived with a vengeance and never seemed to leave. Hell week became hell month, then multiple hell months.
After countless doctor visits and desperate after-hours trips to the pediatrician, we finally got our answer: colic. The medical definition essentially means your baby will cry inconsolably for hours with no identifiable cause. We were textbook cases.
During the worst of it, my son screamed for 16 hours every single day for an entire week straight. He was genuinely miserable until around 14 weeks old.
How Colic Nearly Broke Me (And My Marriage)
I've always been an optimistic person, but colic shattered that. I spent most days crying alongside my baby, convinced I was failing at everything. Friends stopped calling – who wants to visit a house with a constantly screaming infant? I isolated myself, or maybe they isolated me. Either way, I was alone.
My husband would walk through the door after work to find his wife hysterical and his son wailing. We'd been together nearly a decade with the normal relationship ups and downs, but those first three months tested us like nothing else.
The guilt consumed me. I felt guilty for not having energy to be a good wife. Guilty for questioning whether I was cut out to be a mother. Guilty that I couldn't soothe my own child. I even convinced myself his excessive crying would damage his brain development.
What Actually Helped During the Darkest Days
I spent hours scouring parenting blogs and forums looking for answers. Most were useless. Social media showed me nothing but everyone else's perfectly curated highlight reels – no one talks about how brutally hard newborn life can actually be.
My family saved me. They sat with me when I had no one else. They kept me from completely losing my mind. Most importantly, they let me nap when I desperately needed sleep.
My mom repeated the same thing every day: "It's going to get better. He's going to grow out of this."
Living through it, I couldn't see any light at the end of the tunnel. But she was right.
Life After Colic: We Made It
Gradually, the screaming subsided (both his and mine). My son outgrew his colic, just like the doctors promised he would.
Today, I have a healthy, happy seven-month-old who smiles, laughs, and hits every milestone. He's sweet, funny, and yes, still stubborn as hell. He's our entire world.
My husband and I came out stronger on the other side. We appreciate each other's resilience and accept each other's weaknesses without judgment. We're better parents because we survived those impossible early months together.
What I Wish Someone Had Told Me
This too shall pass. And you are not alone.
Having a baby is beautiful. Being a mom is genuinely my favorite thing about myself. But those precious newborn moments everyone talks about? They were few and far between for us, and that's okay.
The rough beginning is part of our story and the path that led us to where we are today. And today? I'm pretty damn happy.
If you're in the thick of colic right now, please know: you will get through this. Your baby will grow out of it. You're not a bad parent. You're surviving an incredibly difficult situation that nobody prepares you for.
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