Surprised?

My oldest son is probably lucky we had him first. He cried most of every day for many months. His babyhood passed in a blur of frustration. Thankfully, we didn’t know that babies weren’t supposed to cry so many hours of every day. I chalked it up to being high strung and mentioned to each of three pediatricians that he cried a lot. I was told it was normal.
I didn’t mention his tendency to scream with his back arched and his limbs stiff. I didn’t say that he hated eye contact and would strain every muscle he could to avoid it. I was scared he would be labeled autistic.

He isn’t.

He was what some people call a “high needs baby.” He wouldn’t sleep unless we gently held his limbs still and patted his back until he gave up. For the first ten months of his life he wouldn’t sleep unless he was touching one of us.

I love him and I always have, but there was a lot of time in that first year that he was hard to like. The day we were checking out of the hospital a nurse angrily asked me, “Can’t you make that baby stop crying?”

No, I couldn’t. So, he screamed. He screamed because the sky was blue and the grass was green. He screamed because he didn’t want to be in the car or he screamed because he did.

He cried if other people held him.

I cried because I was at a loss.

So, in light of my experience, do I find this surprising?

Colicky Babies Boost Postpartum Depression Risk in Moms

No, I don’t. Not one little bit.