Have you ever tried dancing with a newborn? They can make the best partners, although you’ll always have to lead.

Every Marriage With a Baby, Ever

It was two days away from the end of maternity leave. I wanted to unwind and enjoy what I had left of this time. And my baby wouldn’t stop screaming.

Sometimes the baby – I’ll call him Baby O in here – screams for seemingly no reason. (I don’t know why they call it “crying” – there are no tears. It’s screaming.)

I wouldn’t say he’s colicky, or out of control – a normal baby, for sure. But after I’ve made sure he’s fed, changed, cuddled, loved, not too hot, not too cold, and burped, there’s only so much I can do.

On this particular night when my husband came home Baby O was wailing. The husband and I started bickering.

He’d been working all day and wanted to relax, I’m sure. I’d been with the baby all day and also wanted to relax.

Although the husband would have taken him, I wanted to prove to him and myself I could handle the screaming/crying without his help so I did what I had to do.

I danced.

Just Dance

Baby O loves to dance.

Pop dance songs, slow songs, a throwback from the 80s. If you dance and bounce with him and really feel it he’ll feel it too.

I went into the other room and closed the door, and we started out with “What is Love” (the longer club mix version) by Haddaway. A nice bouncy dance mix. From there we progressed to “I Want to Know What Love Is” by Foreigner, a slower tune. I slow danced and sang off key to my son like he was the love of my life.

Then, “We are the People” by Empire of the Sun, which combines both bouncy rhythms and a slower tune, which is a nice combination for newborn dancing. Next up, “Butterfly” by Crazy Town.

The song had barely started when my husband suddenly burst through the door, singing and dancing.

“Come my lady, come come my lady, you’re my butterfly, sugar, baby!”

I laughed and felt the stress melt away as we danced together with Baby O. He was content and so were we.

The problem with this whole, bouncing/dancing to get the baby to stop crying thing is that it’s exhausting. It’s hard to get into dance party mode when you’ve been awake since 3:30am with a baby who thinks that’s a great time to get up for the day.

But sometimes you have to just let it go and dance.