Babies are worse than toddlers when going out.

[Sianlouise432]

A genuine AIBU because I'm coming from a place of 0% experience with toddlers.

I know I've got the terrible twos to look forward to, however I just think taking a baby out and about is SO ANNOYING.

DS can stay awake for max 1.5 hours before he gets cranky. He fusses and cries. Toddlers have tantrums but you can kind of ignore them.. Babies cry for genuine needs which makes it so difficult cause you HAVE to act.

So AIBU? Babies are worse to take out and about.

Ah ok, thats a shame, can't remember what else i did other than when sat down just kept pushing the pram backwards and forwards so she had the movement

@AmIRightOrAMeringue

Oh and I have both, too. Baby is definitely easier!

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Good luck.

That is all

I have a newborn and an 18 month old, the newborn is so much easier on every level, the toddler is wild! If you have another look back on this

Don’t panic!! DD was a tough baby, huge crier and we are talking full volume, full lung capacity screaming. She was an angelic toddler so much fun to take places.

I read page one and stopped.

Toddlers are savage.

I look back on the days when myself and DS1 (a good few years older) could pop in to a coffee shop and DS2 laid in the pram happy as Larry or sleeping. Now we've got highchairs, food throwing, shouts of "mine"/"no"/"I want" to contest with and then the inevitable buggy refusal. It's a fucking nightmare. We still sometimes nip in to a coffee shop if DS2 has been asleep for around 10 minutes because we know we have a good hour of talking, quietly, before the savage wakes.

Agree with most PP - babies are definitely easier than toddlers. DS was a very difficult baby - he had terrible reflux and cried every time he was in the the pram or in the car. He was also a velcro baby who would only sleep in my arms until he was about 7 months old. HOWEVER, at least he stayed put when you put him down, and was easy to comfort when he cried (boob, boob and more boob). He is a relatively easy toddler - not a bolter, and mostly pretty well-behaved. But he always needs to be entertained - forget going anywhere that he doesn't want to do. And the completely illogical tantrums (one of his favourites is having a complete meltdown because he has taken a too big or too small spoonful of something that he is eating) are exhausting!

Depends on the baby.
DS1 sounds like he was a bit like yours. Nightmare, and I didnt go out very much.
As soon as he could walk, it just got easier and easier. It was also easier once he dropped napping (at 22 months), because it meant he started sleeping for longer stretches at night, and if I was lucky, I got 4 straight hours sleep each night.
But I accept my oldest didnt follow typical baby patterns! Sleep was, and still is, for wimps in his mind.

Toddlers are much trickier imo. You'll probably become a more skilled parent as time goes on, though, so you'll handle it.

My DD is only 5 months but she's really easy to take out! I breastfeed so don't even have to take food or snacks, just literally grab her and changing bag and we're away. If she gets grizzly when we're out for lunch or wherever I just stick her on the boob and carry on. I can't imagine a mobile, wriggly toddler will be easier!

I'm honestly completely jealous of everyone saying you can just pass a baby to keep it asleep... Or push their pram a bit... Like, teach me your secrets? I can't sniff or cough without mine waking up. I cant enter a shop with a different atmosphere to the outdoors. I can't shift my arm or place him down.

Toddlers are definitely more work, though saying that I much prefer having a toddler than I did a baby. For a start, she actually sleeps at night and has a predictable afternoon nap. Plus the smiles and giggles and ‘mummy I love you’ moments are quite sweet.

However my god she is work. She throws herself backwards when she doesn’t get her way and is forever banging her head on things, I’m a nervous wreck. And you can’t just ignore them when they are crawling about the floor screaming in the supermarket because THEY want to hold the basket and sitting in trolleys is for BABIES 🙄😭

Toddlers are psychopaths. They know how to press your buttons and have zero capacity for empathy so they don't care if you end up a weeping crumpled mess.

They're also fun and exhilarating and sweet and lovely. But the lows are much worse. Even if it's a crying fit the baby will conk out to sleep sooner than a toddler.

Having a baby is really hard though. Second time you'll be much less fussed and think the baby's needs aren't quite so urgent or mysterious.

My 2 year old is an ANIMAL. Thankfully I know it passes as I also have a 5 year old who is delight now. Give me a baby any day!!!

Totally agree with @RiddleyW. If I'd read this thread when mine was 4 months it probably would have pushed me over the edge (quite literally). I hated every minute of having a young baby. Hated it. But have loved having a toddler so far. Even if it is occasionally "harder" (as in practically), it's so much easier to deal with.

My baby would never, ever, EVER have slept in a cafe so I could have a cup of coffee. Ever. If she wasn't in my arms and moving, she was crying. There was nothing I could do to make her happy other than endlessly walk around the house carrying her. And no, she wouldn't go in a sling.

As a toddler, sure, she's exhausting. I have to involve her in every activity we do otherwise she gets bored and shrieky, and a great deal of my life is spent running after her at the park. But she's also funny, independent, curious, will sit nicely in a high chair and play / eat for long enough for me to be able to have lunch, can be distracted when she's bored / annoyed / tired etc. It's a million times easier. Also her tantrums are hilarious.

Mine doesn’t sleep much in the day either (never more than half an hour at a time, less when out and about however much I push the pushchair) but he’s pretty happy when he’s awake as long as he has people to watch and things to look at so it doesn’t really matter.

I think babies are a challenge because you need to physically do everything for them.

Toddlers generally still need a good 50% done for them, but want to be 100% independent. Leading to you basically negotiating with a small being who thinks you are always wrong.

-10 degrees outside, toddler wants to go out in swimsuit and sandals= meltdown

toast for breakfast, toddler wants his cut in 4, you cut in 4, and they want them now back in 2 pieces = meltdown

They want a shower, get in shower, complain they got wet = meltdown

They want sausages, you cook sausages, they wail they hate sausages and wanted chicken = meltdown

Etc etc, until they reach around 4-5 years and have learnt a few more life lessons

My baby would never, ever, EVER have slept in a cafe so I could have a cup of coffee. Ever. If she wasn't in my arms and moving, she was crying. There was nothing I could do to make her happy other than endlessly walk around the house carrying her. And no, she wouldn't go in a sling.

Yes! This was my life.

I'm watching s family in a cafe, baby and toddler present. Baby is sitting happily in the pram looking at everything in awe. The toddler has already attempted to remove themself from a high chair, spilled their juice and growled at the parent because they refused to let them drink their coffee.

Toddlers are feral.

Babies are so much easier. You can take a baby out and still have a coffee and chat with a friend you have no chance of that with a toddler.
You really can not ignore a toddler. A toddler will absolutely make sure you don't ignore him/her!

Hoooo boy! I think you might be in for a dirty drop OP!
Terrible 2s
Tantrummy 3s
Fucking awful 4s
Fucking awful 5s
fucking awful Stroppy 6s... and continue ad infinitum!
They leave home eventually though, and they tend to be cute, so there's that!

My baby would never, ever, EVER have slept in a cafe so I could have a cup of coffee. Ever. If she wasn't in my arms and moving, she was crying. There was nothing I could do to make her happy other than endlessly walk around the house carrying her. And no, she wouldn't go in a sling.

These kind of people get me.

I hope ds will let me sit and have a coffee when he is 6 months old.

I am on my third baby. I saw my sister at the weekend with her 18 month old and actually said to her “there’s nothing like an afternoon with a toddler to remind you the newborn stage is not the hardest part!”

Another good luck from me!

Haha that really made me laugh, the thought of being able to ignore my two year old when she's having a tantrum. Yabu, in my experience babies are a piece of piss to take out compared to toddlers.Thanks for brightening up my day though.