How similar / different are your kids?

[dodi1978]

Sorry if you feel this is a pointless thread, but I am just interested!

I am now 8 weeks into parenting DS2. DS1 is 3.3.

Initially, things were incredibly parallel. One labour a blueprint of one another, both kids diagnosed with tongue tie / jaundice / struggle to gain weight. Mixed feeding introduced for both.

The early weeks were incredibly / scarily parallel, down to the level of getting stuck in a huge traffic jam on the first trip down to the parents in law both times...

However, now the first differences are emerging. DS1 was on one wakeup per night from 6 weeks on, this one still two most nights. DS1 overslept his first 20 weeks of life, this one is quite chilled as well, but overall much more alert. DS1 was incredibly cuddly... I spent most of my mat leave with him snoozing on my shoulders and read an incredible amount of Kindle books. This one... far too interested to engage in snoozing, the world is just too interesting....

What were your experiences?

I had the other way round. DC1 barely slept during the day and seemed to love socialising (and get bored of my company) from about 8 weeks. DC2 slept for the entire first eight weeks. DC1 is still really difficult to get to sleep and extrovert. DC2 introvert and shy although I am not sure if that is linked to his love of sleep as a newborn! I started noticing that around age 1.

Very different, but how much is nature and how much is nurture I don't know.

Dd1 slept 12 hours night, 3 hours day from 8 weeks. Liked being held, smiled at everyone. Was generally dead on average to do everything (except talk)

Dd2 didn't sleep until prescribed medised at 18 months, ate nothing. Didn't mind being held until she discovered she could move at 5 months then wanted to be down moving herself. Glared if anyone other than well-known spoke to her.

Ds slept when he wasn't having an ear infection (which was about 3 days in every 10), always ate well. Smiled and babbled at anything that might have been a face. Loved to be cuddled tightly. Crawled quite early, but didn't want to walk even when he could because he liked to be down pushing a toy car and watching the wheels.

I don't think you will really know until your children are a lot older.

Right now you are entirely focused on sleeping. So you are really asking about babies, not children.

By the time your children are 5 and 8 all of this will be a distant memory and you will hardly be able to remember it!

Mine are 12 and 8 and they're complete opposites. One is quiet and funny...the other is loud and funny....well they both have the funny in common I suppose! The loud one is tall and sporty....she's the youngest...the eldest is short and hates sports. :D

Chalk and cheese, even down to colouring, skin type and eye colour. Completely different temperaments, different aptitudes, different interests.

I used to complain about DS1.
Then I had DS2 & all his problems, suddenly grateful for the problems I never had with DS1.
Happened all over again with DS3!

Dd1 (4) bloody hard work, never slept unless me or dh was in the bed with her, strong willed and extremely defiant still is but love her to bits
Dd2 (14 months) chilled as a cucumber, slept through from 9 weeks, very calm and hardly cries or complains, think I would have been committed had dd2 been same as dd1

As babies - very, very different (partly because we got the feeding sorted much quicker with dd2)

From age 1 onwards - increasingly similar. Though still a fair few differences.

I agree you can't judge until they are older.