Quit my band today

[Lev]

Update:

So after much discussions with me band mates it seems I haven't quit!! They've really gone out of their way to accomodate me, reducing the number of gigs and even getting in a 'stand-by' guy to cover any gigs that I can't make.

I guess I'm flattered, they really want me as their guitarist.

My family life has settled down a bit now too, my daughter (now 5months) is much better and easier to take care of (most of the uncontrollable crying has stopped).

So next Friday evening I'll be back tearing it up at a big charity gig, looking forward to it now

[oldguy]

Hey, Lev, that's great news! Really glad it all worked out well.
Tear it up big time Friday, and I'm happy you're daughter's doing better.

[Bloozcat]

Good to hear it's all worked out for you, Lev. Above all else, music should be fun. When it becomes a burden rather than a joy, it's time to step back.

So, was your 5-month old daughter a colicky baby?

[Spudman***]

I'm happy to say I told you so. Rock on bro.

[Katastrophe]

Glad to hear that it all worked out with your band mates. It sounded like what you needed was a little time off. The idea of having a "stand by" is a good one.

Tear it up on your next gig, man!

[Lev]

So, was your 5-month old daughter a colicky baby?

Gonna go a touch off topic here but seeing as you asked....

I guess you could call it Colic although I've come to really dislike that term. Colic should be a diagnosis of elimination (IE rule everything else out first), but too many doctors jump to it as a first diagnosis. "Some baby's cry a lot for the first few weeks it's nothing to worry about" - I heard that so many times over the last few months - it's easy to say when you're not living with it.

Basically Mia cried uncontrollably for up to 7 or 8 hours everyday for the first 3 months, only after 3 months did she get into a sleep routine. At least at that point we could get some rest but she was still pretty difficult during the day. We tried a lot of things to give her some relief - alternative formulas, Osteopathic treatments, herbal remedies etc. Eventually we got a doctor to prescribe us Zantac which is an ant-acid to relieve reflux. She actually didn't have the symptoms of reflux and 3 different doctors told us she definitely doesn't have it. But thanks to the web I found that there was such a thing as 'silent' reflux, where a baby brings up their food but swallows it back down rather than positing it out. This means they get severe heart-burn like pains as the food comes up, but also as it goes back down.

The symptoms are that the baby is distressed after feeds and it severely distressed when put lying on their back (hence almost impossible to put to sleep). So I insisted that the doc prescribe her Zantac to treat this - after a few days we saw a big improvement. Now she has started eating solid foods and is almost completely better (solids obviously don't tend to come back up like formula).

Anyway the point is that I know a lot of babies are diagnosed with Colic when there could be other explanations for this distress. It is so so hard to deal with a cross baby in the house so based on my experience I'd advise anyone with a baby with 'severe colic' to look into silent reflux as a possible cause.

Rant over - back to guitars

Thanks to everyone for their support and encouragement!!!

[Bloozcat]

Gonna go a touch off topic here but seeing as you asked....

I guess you could call it Colic although I've come to really dislike that term. Colic should be a diagnosis of elimination (IE rule everything else out first), but too many doctors jump to it as a first diagnosis. "Some baby's cry a lot for the first few weeks it's nothing to worry about" - I heard that so many times over the last few months - it's easy to say when you're not living with it.

Basically Mia cried uncontrollably for up to 7 or 8 hours everyday for the first 3 months, only after 3 months did she get into a sleep routine. At least at that point we could get some rest but she was still pretty difficult during the day. We tried a lot of things to give her some relief - alternative formulas, Osteopathic treatments, herbal remedies etc. Eventually we got a doctor to prescribe us Zantac which is an ant-acid to relieve reflux. She actually didn't have the symptoms of reflux and 3 different doctors told us she definitely doesn't have it. But thanks to the web I found that there was such a thing as 'silent' reflux, where a baby brings up their food but swallows it back down rather than positing it out. This means they get severe heart-burn like pains as the food comes up, but also as it goes back down.

The symptoms are that the baby is distressed after feeds and it severely distressed when put lying on their back (hence almost impossible to put to sleep). So I insisted that the doc prescribe her Zantac to treat this - after a few days we saw a big improvement. Now she has started eating solid foods and is almost completely better (solids obviously don't tend to come back up like formula).

Anyway the point is that I know a lot of babies are diagnosed with Colic when there could be other explanations for this distress. It is so so hard to deal with a cross baby in the house so based on my experience I'd advise anyone with a baby with 'severe colic' to look into silent reflux as a possible cause.

Rant over - back to guitars

Thanks to everyone for their support and encouragement!!!

I mentioned it because my 18-year old niece was diagnosed with colic as a baby. She cried for about 3-4 months non-stop...even in her sleep she sobbed. About drove my brother crazy and he wasn't home with her all day long. I don't know how his wife endured it.

Of course, the kid's just an 18 year old brat now...

[MAXIFUNK]

Hey Lev,

Your doing the right thing I stopped working personal security once my daughter reached 14 months or so the loss of income was a hard hit but in the end it was worth every penny lost millions a times over.

Enjoy it while you can because before you know they'll be asking for the cars keys and telling you do not know a damn thing about being a teenager. LOL

[Commodore 64***]

Update:

My family life has settled down a bit now too, my daughter (now 5months) is much better and easier to take care of (most of the uncontrollable crying has stopped).

Both my daughters had this. Some say colic. Other say it's a natural thing to help build/develop lungs. It IS a developmental phase, and doesn't indicate anything is amiss or wrong. In any case, I absolutely love my 2 girls, but I had the vasectomy scheduled before the 2nd one came out. Heh.

Now if I can just learn to play the guitar, maybe someday I can attend an open jam session.