Are we normal??!!

[Nedmum]

Good morning
DS is six months. I think the charitable way to describe him would be highly strung. When he is happy, he's lovely, giggly and smiley. When he's not, he screams. A lot. Loudly, like someone's ripping his limbs off. At no point in his life has he ever stopped yelling of his own accord. There is genererally no discernable reason for yelling, other than he wants picking up and hoisted round the house at my shoulder. This is not always possible. There is never any breathing space between happy and not-happy. And there is no middle ground. The other babies I know of a similar age are placid little things, gently waiting while mum gets the shopping in from the car, instead of screaming blue murder.
And he wakes up at 4am. According to the in-laws, and the HV, he should be sleeping 7pm to 7pm.
What the feck is going on?

ok, i'm actually sobbing now, thanks to all the sweet things you've all said. I think I can still get away with blaming the hormones. When he's good, he's the most charming, inquisitive bub ever - going out with him is like being famous, the attention we get! It's just the screaming, when I'm home alone, that breaks my heart and drives me mad. so good to know I'm not alone, and that it bodes well for the future

dont cry!children can be hard work no matter what their temperment,but we get through it.
the only thing i'll say is at very young age people told me my ds was naughty etc.he became labelled and i feel hes tried to live up to that label.he does my head in at times tbh!hes adorable but very excitable!

He sounds a lot like my daughter at that age. I vividly remember sitting one postnatal class, and watching as one woman's baby daughter went from sitting on her lap happily to screaming her head off with no warning whatsoever, and being SO glad that someone else had a baby like THAT. Like you, I just though EVERYONE else's was quiet and gurgly, and could be fed/put down for a nap at the 'early warning signs', just like the books said. I'm still friends with that mum, and our daughters are friends too - they're great. A little prima donna-ish from time to time, but mostly great (mine has actually calmed down considerably, more of a sulker these days, hers is still a screamer from time to time).

Sounds exactly the same as my dd. She is now 7, very happy, very clever, a dream to parent ( not just me who says that).

Yes she was hard work for the first two years but i am soo glad I put the effort it, am sure it's what gave me such a lovely secure dd today.

( PS ignore the HV)

i totally understand so many of the feelings you've mentioned here. my dd is exactly the same, very changeable: so bright, interested and angelic when she's happy, but when she's not, watch out! she has her own strong little character and now i understand it better, i really love it. it is hard work, but she is what she is, and i can tell she's going to be a girl who gets what she wants in life, which is great. i actually find the loud/screaming tantrum-like spells quite endearing now! i try to remember that in a few minutes or hours she'll be giggling, grinning and being generally mischevious again. that usually gets me through the more 'challenging' moments

Not read all the posts here but totally agree with the personality thing, you will be so proud of him as he grows. And if anything like my DD, suddenly quite independent as soon as she became mobile. She knows her own mind, knows what she wants and that got her on her feet quite early, which actually has made her much easier as she is able to make her own way a bit more (within reason, she's still only 10 months! ). Forget about the 7-7 sleep thing, mine didn't sleep through until 8 or 9 months and still doesn't quite often (teething, colds, oh there's always something!).

That sounds like my DS2 to a tee, if I put him down it was as if someone had shoved a drawing pin in his bum the screaming was unbelievable, by the time he was 9 months old I was at my wits end and a nervous wreck. In the end I took him to see a cranial osteopath, three sessions over three weeks with her and I had a completely different child it was unbelievable. He still had his paddies and in fact I would say probably has one every couple of days, but nothing on the scale of what he was like. I can say she gave me my sanity back. Anyhow, my little monkey is 3 years old now, still prone to the odd paddy, but as he's been able to develop his communication skills it's become less, however he will argue black is white with me. He's also very bright, very quick to learn and an absolute little charmer who loves his snuggles with mummy. So persevere, it does get better with every milestone.

Nedmum - DD was like that. Since now she can walk (and climb), she just goes and gets what she wants rather than screaming her head off.

My advice would be try to put your DS down as much as possible. On the floor, not on a couch/sofa/bouncy chair. This is so he learns to crawl soon. I made the mistake of carrying DD around with me, next to me on the sofa, etc and she never crawled, and only walked at 18 months.

One more thing: 4 AM is not a normal start to the day, even for a baby. You need to somehow get him to go back to sleep without a feed. A couple of hard nights and he will sleep through once the habit of feeding at 4 AM disappears.

Good luck!

yes, yes, yes

DS is exactly like this (at 13 mo). Yells at the drop of a hat but is also v bright and sociable and interested. DH is v proud of him and goes round sneering at the placid babies who 'sit there and don't do anything'!

My tips: don't worry about bad habits, give lots of affection and cuddles, use a sling if they want to be carried all the time (a good sling, not a baby bjorn or one of those crappy ones with no support). DS is hard work but v v rewarding. I'me expecting him to be tremendously successful when he grows up and to keep us in a life of luxury in return for all of the broken eardrums and nights

Hi nedmum. I can add my 5 mth old to the list of bubbas just like yours. And thank heavens for all the posts saying how wonderful they'll be when they are older

I found when all our babies turned about one, everyone started telling the truth in our group of friends

(yes, you are normal, and v jealous about one waking at night)