Hi everyone, just posting to have a bit of a vent and to see if anyone else out there is having or has had the same experience.
I have 2 daughters, dd1 is 2.5yrs, dd2 is 3wks old. Dd1 has not taken to dd2 very well which I kind of expected as dd1 is a bit shy and can be intimidated by other children, but I thought she would just ignore the baby. Although she does ignore her, the problem is dd2's behaviour has suddenly changed. She is refusing a lot of her meals and drinks, doesn't want to always leave the house and is throwing tantrums at the slightest thing. When she has a really bad tantrum there is absolutely no reasoning with her, the answer to every question is NO, she won't let you take her food away even though she has pushed it away. She sometimes won't even let me or oh move. We just have to leave her to burn herself out which is awful because she's so upset I want to give her a big cuddle but she won't let me anywhere near her.
The most frustrating thing though is she cries nearly every time the baby cries or makes even the slightest grunting noise! This isn't a new baby specific thing though, she's done this before when other kids have cried. I guess she just doesn't like the noise.
Apart from the new baby, it's probably a combination of other factors as well that have unsettled her. The change in routine because she used to go to her grandparents 3 days a week when I worked, the change in routine just because it was xmas, and obviously she might just be in the terrible twos anyway. We are starting to get her to go to her grandparents again 2 days a week and they will visit on other days to keep her occupied which is good for all of us but at the same time, I don't want to remove her from the situation all the time because I think she needs to have to deal with it to accept it. Also I wonder if she plays up more if there are other people here to play up to.
We do occasionally make small steps but then the next day we go backwards again. Everyone says it will get better, I'm sure it will but it's hard to see when that might be at the moment. Does this sound familiar to anyone?