High-need baby?

Last week, I had a rather high-need baby. I gotta carry him for almost the whole day. It was indeed very tiring for me. All I could do for the day was just carrying baby and cooking his food. He cried hard whenever he wanted me to carry, or when I wanted to put him down on the floor to play. At times, I gotta carry him to sleep on me. I could not be out of sight even for a few seconds. He cried and creeped to me and stood, wanting me to carry again. Sometimes, I just held him to stand on the floor, and he also cried. My parents brought him to the East Coast Park. And when they came back, he wanted me to carry and feed him. He wanted no one else but me. At night, he creeped on me to sleep like a koala bear for two nights. hahaha... My "baby koala bear" felt quite good though cos he was so close to me. However, after a few hours, it can be rather aching on my chest with his heavy head resting on my chest ;). I wondered if it's the so-called separation anxiety. I thought I had done everything I can do since birth, to prevent this stage. From Shichida's book, a baby whose needs are satisfied will be a very secured and calm baby. How come I had a not so calm baby? hmm... Could it be teething? Maybe... He's salivating again. And he's biting my clothes very often. My Armani top has a hole now :( I was also rather worn out last week.

Last Thursday, I thought, maybe Aloysius is bored at home, so I brought him to the library. I wanted to read some books to him, but I ended up giving him some books to flip on his own, and I read up on babies to find out whether I had done anything no so right in parenting to has caused distress to myself and Aloysius for the past one week. Ooopss... Aloysius was very calm and a good boy when we were out, pushing him in the stroller. It gotta be places with many people passing by, and lots of interesting things to see.

I picked up the book titled "The fussy baby book" by Dr. William and Martha Sears. hahaha.. It's the Sears again, eh? ;) And yes, the Sears again. I browsed through the book. hmm... I think I had not been sensitive enough to Aloysius. His weaning off the breasts also plays a part in causing him to become a high-need baby. Another which I was guilty of was when he cried, I asked him to call "mama" first before I would carry him... kekeke... oops... Ok, I shall not repeat that again :P I had made use of his cries for his needs to ask him to call me. He did call me many many times after I picked him up - "ma ma ma ma ma..." He was such a lovely boy, ain't he? :)
After reading several chapters of the book, I followed what I read immediately.

On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning, I breastfed him as much as he wanted to. We brought him down for a swim. He creeped at the side of the pool happily. He enjoyed watching other kids having their swimming lessons. He also had several mini-dives on Friday and Sunday :). On Saturday, he's accepting his daddy more, and started to be back to his usual calm, contented, and happy self :). Good thing that we got that settled partly, in time for his new term in Shichida class :). He was a bit of a challenge in class yesterday, but not as bad. He still loves the flashcards and the songs, but quite a challenge to get him to do the fingers training portion. He was rather active. He has very amazing ESP though :). And very good photographic memory. Good job, Aloysius :)

Today, Aloysius is a very, very good and happy boy. He woke up at 9.15am with a smile. My mum is around. He can play on his own with his toys! Maybe it's my mum around? Or I had already satisfied his needs for the past few days? I am glad that he's creeping and exploring around the house again :). He even creeps to his toy bag to take out the toys that he likes :).
At least now, I know I am doing the "right" things in his upbringing again :) On and off, I gotta re-read the books that I have to "revise".