A very grumpy 6 month old

[rachndan]

Hi everyone, our 6 month old girl has become very grumpy recently.

She is teething due to drooling, red cheeks, constantly having her hands in her mouth and we try and solve this with the teeth gel and/or crystals and some nurofen.

However, she just is very grumpy when she put down. She absolutely loves being held by her mum but she soons gets bored when she is put down and starts to whinge and moan. We cant hold her constantly and we try to do it as little as possible throughout the day so she doesnt become too clingy.

She is happy watching a bit of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, then after 10-15 mins gets bored, she is then content with some toys, then becomes bored. She sleeps very little during the day (she wont let herself, she would rather cry about being tired than actually sleep). It is very difficult for my partner to do anything such as have a shower, do some washing up, eat lunch, because when she puts her down she just moans. Sometimes cries hysterically.

Perhaps she is frustrated as she cant crawl at the moment and perhaps she just wants to do things her body wont let her at the moment.

I have googled "grumpy 6 month old" and pleased to see we arent the only ones, but literally we cant watch anything we want on the TV or just sit down to have lunch together because if she isnt being entertained by us / something on TV likes she just is not impressed.

I expected her to wrap me round her little finger in about 4 or 5 years, not 6 months. Haha.

Any suggestions? We do all the usual - kisses, cuddles, play time, teethers, toys, cartoons, walks etc.

Thanks

Hello - sounds like my daughter! It's very frustrating. Did you BF? I have heard they can be a little more clingy (not sure whether true or not). YOu might be right wondering whether she is frustrated - you could look on the bright side and put it down to her being very intelligent and gets bored easily :)

It suddenly clicked with mine when she was just over 6 mnths (from what I can remember) Phaps your girl is just quite demanding, I asked friends and family for advice and no one really had any strong advice - hopefully someone will post with more ideas, I just didn't' want to read and pass your post. Hang in there, she will get better:)

Well it sounds just like life with a young baby really...pretty normal. If you/your partner want to be getting more done you could perhaps look at using a sling.

My dd went through a v clingy stage till she could push herself up to sitting at 7 months. Now she is v content to sit and play with toys , perhaps in a few weeks your dd will be the same.
You say she prefers to cry about sleeping rather than sleep . How do you try to put her to sleep ? You could try holding her while she is crying till she falls asleep
Re showers - put high chair in bathroom
And IMHO tv for a 6 month old is a bit unnecessary . Sorry but it really ruins attention span when babies watch it

I spoke to my peaditritian about the exact same thing today as I was worried something was wrong with her. She is nearly 7 months. His advice was to make sure she is somewhere safe and leave her to it, otherwise she will get used to getting what she wants - easier said than done though! She is such a fidget I can't find anywhere safe for her!
Hopefully when they are more mobile they will be less frustrated and find it easier to entertain themselves. Good luck.

A paediatrician is not a child care expert. I would be a bit wary of following advice to leave a very young baby to cry tbh.

Yes I agree I wouldn't leave her for a very long time but when you have such a high maintenance baby if you don't leave her for a bit you will literally get nothing done and your arms will ache like mad. We pandered to our lo so much up until now as she has acid reflux and we needed to, also development problems but now she is ok and she has got so used to it that she still wants to be picked up all the time and rocked to sleep. It's tough to do but I'm trying to be a little harder with her now.