Lactose intolerance

Phil currently breast-feeds about once every three hours. After his 2 AM meal last night, he woke up crying at 5 AM — right on schedule. However, the milk didn’t placate him. He kept right on crying.

It was rather unnerving. Among the various methods for soothing a baby — giving him his pacifier, swaddling him, picking him up, rocking him, changing him into dry diapers and clothes — feeding him is the one option that always works. Until now. Now what?

Did he have a fever? No, his temperature was normal. I took him to the living room, re-wrapped his blanket, and set him down on a pillow while I pondered my next move. He immediately stopped crying, went back to sleep, woke up late for his next feeding, and then suckled happily as usual.

I suppose the message here is that Phil is starting to become less predictable — less like a pet and more like a person. A tiny, uncoordinated, inarticulate, gluttonous person, but a person nonetheless.