Baby mood swings

[Mexie]

Hi everyone, just wanted to ask for advice/reassurance/people's experiences. My daughter is 14 weeks old and she can be absolutely delightful. She's very smiley when she's in a good mood, and very sociable and curious. The thing I'm finding hard is that when she's tired she gets very, very grumpy, and sometimes she's tired almost immediately after waking up. I put her down for naps 4 times a day with relative ease, but no matter how long she sleeps she still sometimes wakes up grumpy. She loves new people, music, being talked to and carried around, and is very easily bored. She doesn't like to he put down in her car seat or chair unless she's in a very good mood. She's desperately trying to sit up at the moment and gets frustrated when she can't. I know it's not good to compare but at a party last week my friend's baby sat nicely on her lap whilst my baby babbled and laughed and whinged and everything in between. I know a lot of it must come down to personality, and when she's on form she's wonderful. I just wondered if anyone else's baby was like this and when they felt that their good mood was more sustained?

[surreygirl1987]

No advice but just to say my 17beeek old son is EXACTLY like this!! Such a happy smiley face... then will whinge and I'll have to bend over backwards to make him happy.

[Mexie]

@surreygirl1987 it's such a sudden change isn't it??

[MummEE2]

My 14 week old DS is similar. He's generally miserable first thing after waking up from naps but once I play some lullaby music to him and give him a while to wake up he'll be ok and smiley.

They're still so tiny at that age, never compare to other babies.

[surreygirl1987]

I read something about this.... I think my boy is simply what they call an 'alert' or 'high needs' baby. They tend to have bags of energy but suddenly feel exhausted, feel boredom but get overstimulsted easily, feel frustration when learning new skills but do them early as a result, and be active rather than passive. My boy is the happiest baby I know when he's happy... but the most miserable when he's not! What a whinger!! Any way apparently this type of personality suits being a toddler more than baby as they can do stuff so less frustrated!!

[Mexie]

@surreygirl1987 you just described my daughter to an absolute t! I'm hoping for the day when she'll be in that good mood for just a little longer...

[Mexie]

@mummEE2 you're right, compare and despair. I wouldn't change my daughter even though she can be hard work, because she's such a vibrant little personality.

[surreygirl1987]

Haha same. I think my son is the best little boy in all the world. But god he's hard work. I think I read 14% of babies are like this. Wish there were more of them in my circle of mum friends! It's hard when all the other babies will lie passively in their mum's arms for an entire lunch out when my boy is wriggling and fussing to play...
Then gets bored and wants to do something different!!

[Mexie]

@surreygirl1987 I agree, hard work but worth it. I'm also shocked when I see other babies laying down passively and cooing. Couldn't get mine to sit still for that long but I love her strong will and am excited to see how her personality develops. What's your son's sleep like?

[surreygirl1987]

I know exactly what you mean. My husband said he's like a toddler in a baby's body and he doesn't know how to be a baby!! Surprisingly his sleep is excellent- the best in out NCT group!! He was doing 7-7 from only a few weeks old (but was packing on weight well)... now I wake him at 10:30 for a dream feed and he generally wakes around 5am for a second feed. We did have a nightmare with naps until we recently got him into some sort of schedule though- he did NOT want to nap!!

[Mexie]

@surreygirl1987 wow that's amazing! My daughter is an ok napper and is starting to sleep longer hours at night but tends to be full of energy from 3 or 4am D-;

[surreygirl1987]

Lol. Yeh we've got very lucky with his sleep thank god. I feel u deserve good sleep.aftee running round after his desperately trying to entertain him all day! He's been so difficult the past 3 days!

[Mexie]

@surreygirl1987 how are you getting on? Any improvement?