The Case of the Sleepless Baby: Solved

Case closed.

After a firestorm of leads called in by friends and family, the case of the Sleepless Baby was blown wide open this week.  Informants pointed to all the usual suspects: teething, hunger pains, growth spurts, etc.  After doing a shake down of each of these, no conclusion could be drawn, until a long time informer,"La Cubana," called in.

Turns out her boss, "Papa Bear," long-time jefe of the Barden Crime Family,  heard about the case and mentioned it to La Cubana over dinner.  As soon as she could steal away, she called our office and simply said, "Rice Cereal" before hanging up.

The Agency was confused; Babies don't start eating rice cereal until at least 5-6 months.  But knowing that La Cubana has been a trusted source of information to the agency for years, we decided to take this call seriously.

We sent over the case evidence to expert Dr. Oryza Sativa.  After studying the evidence, Dr. Sativa concluded that the culprit was likely severe Acid Reflux and feeding the victim rice cereal before bed would help weigh down milk and soak up acid, providing relief to the baby.

We were skeptical.  This could be another set up, like the time an informant told us to keep baby awake during the day so he would sleep better at night--that set the agency back for days and we scrambled to recover once we realized the trap.  However, since we were desperate to crack this case, we followed our hunch and prepared the rice cereal hoping to thwart the likely offender, Acid Reflux and provide some relief to his victim.

We were nervous as bed time approached.  Feeding rice cereal to a young baby could be traumatizing.  As we spooned the first of the milky mix into the baby's mouth, our fears were assuaged.  The young victim sucked down the cereal like a pro, and seemed to want more, now all we had to do was wait.

We followed the victim's normal bed time routine.  He fell asleep and we waited with bated breath to see what would happen.  Six peaceful hours passed before the young victim roused.  The next night it was seven and a half!

We had done it!  Acid Reflux has been brought to justice and our young victim can finally sleep easy knowing that his esophagus is now safe.

The Agency would like to thank you all for your support during these last sleepless days and nights.  We couldn't have solved the case without you.

For your viewing pleasure:  The Uneventful First Feeding.