"You only fail when you quit trying."

One of my dear friends posted that on my facebook page after I posted a status update proclaiming myself as a failure as a mother for not being able to comfort my crying (read: screaming, wailing, inconsolable, sobbing) daughter. It's hard as a parent to see your child sad or uncomfortable and not be able to fix it - as far as I'm concerned it's the HARDEST thing I've ever dealt with. So, these past few nights, I've been a wreck as I sat and rocked her for hours trying to calm her down enough to be able to sleep. We have no idea what brought this on - a week ago she was sleeping throughout the night, was easy to put down after her bath, and happy all the time. Then, Monday night, everything changed. She was fussy as soon as we got home, she didn't want to take her bottle and took forever to eat, any time we tried to put her in our chair or in her bed (so we could try to eat dinner) she would cry, and when we got her ready for bed, things got ugly. She was sobbing and writhing around to the point that she was difficult to hold. Finally, after she had exhausted herself, she went to sleep. Sort of. She was up and fussing every few hours during the night and we took turns getting up to giver her the bink. Last night was more of the same except we were up every hour from 1am until the alarm went off. I don't know what could be causing it. She's clean and fed, burped, no diaper rash, warm, snuggled, spends enough time on her mat kicking and squirming, doesn't have a fever, isn't showing any evidence of teething (but I'm suspicious), and her nose, ears, and throat are okay (I had the school nurse check her out today just to be sure.). It could be a growth spurt but we've never seen this kind of fussiness before. I called the pediatricians office and they're only suggestion was that I quit drinking coffee (so I'll be a zombie tomorrow...) and see if that has anything to do with it. I dunno. I'd try just about anything if it means we all get some rest and avoid the stressful nights.