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AIBU?

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Original poster

Are all second dcs a bit crazy?

83 replies

LittleMilla · 30/01/2015 21:22

Trying to ascertain whether my ds2 (18 mo) is just 'typical' second child or whether it's just my immediate circle of friends that have very strong willed second children?

He's Fab and we adore him but he's bloody hard work. Knocks his older brother around, generally very physical but also has a very short fuse. Had tantrums since he was 13 montha Hmm

Normal second child in everyone else's experience?

OP posts:
Thesimplethings · 30/01/2015 21:31

Yes, same here. Ds1 ways a chilled out baby, fed every four hours on demand. Slept well from birth. Feed 10pm, 2am and 6am. As soon as I laid him down his eyes would close.

Ds2 never bloody slept! Fed every hour and had to be kept up right for at least half an hour after a feed due to reflux.

Fast forward to 4 and 3, they both sleep 12/13 hours a night but, ds2 is a whirlwind and delights in winding his brother up. The tantrums are legendary as he tries to compete with his older brother. He wants whatever ds1 is playing with and constantly picks fights.

There's only 16 months between them.

DeeCayed · 30/01/2015 21:32

Well, I have 3 dc but my youngest I often class as the second child as ds1 (first born) is a lot older than the other two. I can confirm ds2 is feral! Grin he is so much more hard work than my other two, I really cannot trust him to not run off or swear or be not be naughty. He can be very loving and calm but it's sometimes short lived. I worry so much about him.

FightOrFlight · 30/01/2015 21:34

Mine is/was but I'd hate to generalise he's as mad as a box of frogs on LSD

Thesimplethings · 30/01/2015 21:34

Oh yes, ds2 is the bolter too! It's hard work trying to take the two of them out for the day as he will always reduce me to a quivering wreck with his daredevil antics.

Showy · 30/01/2015 21:39

I don't like generalisation like this. Except my dc conform exactly. So do my nieces. I'd like to think it's coincidence but they do know that birth order affects personality don't they? Sure I read something years ago.

My firstborn is calm, biddable, fair, mature, kind, placid, easy going. Never ever tantrummed and is accepting and understanding and works hard and perseveres, is studious, methodical etc.

DC2 is a whirling dervish of energy and opinion, extremely quick to anger, easily frustrated, stubborn, sensitive, headstrong, determined, unforgiving and intense. Loving and bright and funny too but crashing through life with single-minded determination while DC1 is considering options and evaluating everything.

Showy · 30/01/2015 21:39

Yes to tantrums and bolting too.

Musicaltheatremum · 30/01/2015 21:39

Mine too. He is now 19 and adorable still. But I often describe "2nd child syndrome"

MrTumblesBavarianFanbase · 30/01/2015 21:40

My 2nd was an easy toddler and a much better sleeper than my first.

My 3rd is the whirlwind who didn't sleep longer than 2 hours at a stretch til he was 2.5 and climbed like spider man before he could walk. He's getting easier now at 3.9 though.

I think you maybe mean is your last child the craziest... chicken and egg why they are last, whether they are DC1, 2, 3, 4 or 5... :o

Frikadellen · 30/01/2015 21:41

actually my 2nd was the easiest of all mine as baby and toddler..

DC 4 on the other hand GOSH..

trilbydoll · 30/01/2015 21:43

But surely subsequent children have to fit in with everyone else and are therefore calm, placid, compliant little people?!

I can't handle a crazy DC2, DC1 is enough work, I was hoping for a baby that had read all the books this time!

SweetPeaSoup · 30/01/2015 21:44

Oh dear God no - currently expecting DC2 and now having an attack of the terrors...

WhatismyLife · 30/01/2015 21:44

DC2 is 18 months and is also a bit feral. Tantrums since about 10 months. (didn't even know this was possible) He's a bolter. He terrorises the cat and beats up his 3 year old sister. He had the TV over the other week! Absolutely wild.

FightOrFlight · 30/01/2015 21:45

Sweetpea Be afraid, be very afraid .... bwahahahahaaaaa Grin

NormHonal · 30/01/2015 21:46

Yes, normal here too.

And I luff the bones of him even if he won't go TF to sleep.

meglet · 30/01/2015 21:47

thinking of all the spirited kids I know, which includes DD, and they're all second or third children.

DixieNormas · 30/01/2015 21:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BadgersNadgers · 30/01/2015 21:48

DS2 is as crazy as a coconut.

DixieNormas · 30/01/2015 21:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

afreshstartplease · 30/01/2015 21:49

Dc 2 and 3 are both like this!

Playdoughcaterpillar · 30/01/2015 21:51

Mine completely the other way round. Number 1 hard work, number 2 easy as pie.

BackforGood · 30/01/2015 21:51

Totally the opposite with mine.
dc1 was and still is, at 18 extremely hard work. I'm liking the word 'feral' Dixie Grin
dc2 was, and still is a dream in every way compared with dc1.
dc3 is more like dc 1, although not as much so, and I'm a bit more relxed than I was with dc1.

FoulsomeAndMaggotwise · 30/01/2015 21:52

I was the second child and I was a dream, according to mum Grin

Primafacie · 30/01/2015 21:52

Yes, according to my sample of one. DC2 is mental! Always has been. DC1 is Buddhist zen by comparison.

GrouchyKiwi · 30/01/2015 21:52

DD2 is only 6 months old but she's more placid than her big sister was. Even if she doesn't sleep as much.

I will not cope if she turns out to be more, uh, enthusiastic than her big sister. DD1 is incorrigible.

CooCooCachoo · 30/01/2015 21:54

Nooooooooooo! My DS2 is now 7 months and has been much harder work than DS1 so far: bad sleeper, fed every 2 hours through night until 6 months, major separation anxiety, can't put him down let alone leave room without him going into melt down. I just assumed he would get better as he got older. Now I am starting to think this may just be the beginning......