Feel like I'm always fighting against my 10mth old boy

[sara2580]

My LB is just over 10months old, very active and happy little baby but I feel like I'm constantly fighting with him!

Changing his nappy, getting him dressed/undressed/feeding him is an absolute nightmare and at times I feel like I am holding him down to just stop him trying to escape or roll around in his own poop!! I'm finding it quite stressful and actually really upsetting, as I feel like I'm doing something wrong.

I've tried distracting him with different things but nothing seems to work. Any suggestions please???

Following! The same with my 7 month old boy - I basically have to sit on him to change his nappy otherwise he's immediately off crawling through poop! He gets so angry but it's hard to know what to do otherwise!

If you are struggling to feed him, do you mean spoon feeding, bottles or Bfing?

Spoon Feed him, he either pushes the spoon or spits out the food!

I'd stop spoon feeding him then

Seriously, if he's fighting you, it's not worth the effort. Either try blw or give him a spoon and let him get on with it. It might take a coup,e of weeks for him to get the hang of it but it will make your life easier.

Will give it a go! Thanks for your advice.

Very normal and it doesn't get easier sorry!
I have to walk behind dd 18 months getting her dressed.
She screams through nappy change

I think they can go through a big developmental leap around that age, and get more active and want to explore more. My DD did anyway!

My approach was to go with it a bit, and just try to dump some of my ideas about how things were before. So I started literally wiping her bum as she crawled away (it's actually surprisingly effective!), relaxing about clothes (if she didn't want to put a top on over her vest, I didn't push it as long as it wasn't freezing), let her feed herself with her hands even though it was an unholy mess.

I know that might sound like I'm dead soft (and I was told as much on a nappy changing thread!) but my approach was just to give her little bits of control where safe and appropriate, and not to sweat the small stuff.

It took the 'struggle' or fight out of it to a large degree and made it more enjoyable for everyone.

Another thing that helped was making sure she got plenty of physical activity, to burn off all that new energy and action (she started to crawl around the same time). So loads of time on the floor, crawling-chasing up and down the hall, etc. I began to recognise when she was very active and needed this and when she was a bit more chilled, and plan activities accordingly.

Does that make sense?

Hi Sara. My little chap is the same age as yours and behaves exactly the same!! Don't worry. It sounds very normal. When nappy / clothes changing, I give my son some toys / bottles (nappy cream!) to play with, which he only gets at those times. Weaning has been driving me bananas as well - he alternates between accepting and rejecting spoonfuls of stuff. We do a lot of finger food, but I still find it very frustrating! X

Hi Bethan,

I'm pleased it's not just me!! I literally do the same, I give him nappy sacks, wipes, cream, toys, bottle - basically anything that will keep his attention look enough so I can change his nappy! We bought pull ups, but that's not really made any difference. I just end up feeling so bad, as I have to hold him down and then he cries and I feel so guilty. I don't want him to build a bad association with changing his nappy!

Yeah I've also started giving more finger food!!

xxx

To Rainatnight,

It makes total sense! Will try giving it a go and see how we get on!

Thank you

Might be a silly Q but where do you change him? E.g. do you use a change table? With my DD1 I always changed her on the change table and gave her a minute or twos warning we were going upstairs to do her nappy. In my experience babies who fight nappy changes the most are those who are flipped over amongst their toys and expected to stay still. Even if you don't have space for a change table, a set space somewhere away from a play space is best. Getting this under control now is key you likely have well over a year of nappy changes left! We'll see how it goes with DS 8 weeks...