Very difficult 9 month old - feel like worst mum in the world

[Mamabear931]

I really do feel like a terrible mum.

My boy is 9 months old in a few days and he’s always been tricky to get to sleep, gets bored very easily, needs constant attention etc.

Recently he’s been especially hard work and I can feel myself losing my temper more and more often.

He’s teething currently which is making it worse but he woke up at 4am this morning after not sleeping well all night and REFUSED to go back to sleep even though he was shattered, I tried everything.

Eventually he went back down 5 hours later but he fought it, screaming every time I tried to rock him or hold him and desperately trying to get away from me flailing his arms and legs.

This has gone on all day, he has finally gone down for another nap after another hour and a half of fighting it, I was getting so frustrated I was shaking and sweating, and I raised my voice at him and threw a pillow on the floor which I feel terrible for now and so guilty in case I scared him but im finding it really hard to not lose it as I’m also exhausted.

I’m just worried he’s going to hate me for shouting at him. I can feel myself getting more and more stressed and it’s not fair on him as he doesn’t understand yet. I look at him now he’s asleep and I feel so bad for losing my temper with him.

Does anyone else get this frustrated? I do have PND so I don’t know if it’s making it worse but I’m really having a tough time recently.

Hi there,

My son is the same age as yours (10 months next week). He used to be very difficult to get down for naps, he would fight and get very stressed with me. It became a battle and I dreaded nap time.

Eventually, I just started to accept whatever would happen. If my son started fighting the nap, we just got back up again and kept playing maybe another half hour then try again. Have you tried getting back up again and distracting for a while? This would usually work for me but not necessarily all the time.

I also lie down with him now and when he doesn't want to sleep, he babbles now and rolls around laughing. I let him do this for 20 minutes then switch sides and try put him down again which usually works too.

My daughter is 10 months next week and has been like this too, sometimes i give up and try again after an hour, if she's teething or unwell I co-sleep at night as its the only way we both get some sleep. I've found this doesn't effect her going back in her cot once she's feeling better, it just helps during the rough periods. I find if she's feeling unwell she likes to have contact constantly and it can be exhausting. Other then that if I feel myself getting worked up, I make sure she's fed, clean and dry, give her a toy and leave her in her cot while I get some fresh air to calm down. You're doing a fab job, people really can't relate unless they have experienced a baby that seems to hate sleep, I used to beat myself up about it and think I must be doing something wrong but you're not, babies just get there at different times. X