9 month old baby so grumpy, really getting me down!!

[Tiredshazza1]

Hi,

I wonder if anyone can help/listen/reassure me, I have a 9month old baby girl, it just seems like compared to all the other babies I know, she is so miserable, wingey, not interested, needs your attention all the time !! she very rarely smiles and its really getting me down. All she wants to do is walk so im hoping that when this moment happens, she will be happier.
I havent got any friends that have children so that doesn't help and just feel like I need to talk to someone or im going to go mad! :-)

That sounds like a very normal 9 month old baby to me! If you have care of her all day, it is a hard task to keep someone of that age interested because they are so eager to be up and about, to communicate, to do all the things that they see people around them doing, and so get frustrated with themselves.

I think the bes thing I can advise here is to stretch her with new experiences. Does she like swimming? That's a pretty good one for babies because they can kick and splash in the water and play games while still being very close to you. She might really appreciate you walking with her holding your hands so that she can practice her steps - maybe get a little ball that you or she can kick infront of her.

Thank you for your advice, yes we regulary go swimming and we are always walking holding hands, will have to get a ball!
I'm sure it is normal but as a first time mum and a very tired one, the smallest of things get you down.!!!
Thank you very much for replying.

I loved swimming. It guaranteed that DS would fall asleep in the car on the way home :o

It is really tiring looking after a small person who has no idea of danger but is becoming increasingly independent. I always try to get out of the house as much as possible TBH!

Remember too that anger, frustration and irritability are all GOOD things for a 9-month old; they are emotions that spur babies on to the next developmental stage. The most placid, happy and gorgeous babies can turn into cross little balls of frustration as they are desperate to walk/crawl/reach that bright thing on the other side of the room. Anger is good, and this stage will pass! (so says my child psychologist and super mum friend!)

Keep going - you're doing brilliantly.

Maybe shes a baby who cries a lot, but could it be a possible cows milk allergy? Sounds a lot like my DS4, absolutely miserable, clingy, waking often, unhappy boy, we realised the symptoms worse when his milk/cheese/yogurt consumption was highest, so cut out all cows milk products for a few days - he was a different boy after 2 days, happy, placid, smiling, slept much better. Also he had frequent red eye, nappy rash, wind and foul smelling poos (cheesy poos???) all stopped when we took cows milk products out of his diet. He's 11 months now, and we have tried him on cows milk a couple of times, and the same symptoms started again (takes about 3 days to get really bad in his case).

He gets Goat milk now (Tesco sells pasteurized, long life), and all baby food is cows milk free or we make our own.

Does any of that sound familiar? It may be worth considering as it could makes a HUGE difference to her..... worth a 3 or 4 day experiment? IME, a comfortable, well baby should not be miserable for all the time!

How is she now