Our baby is now 8 months old and ever since she was born it has felt like we have been fire fighting. She was born by emergency c section due to a infection that required a week in neonatal. She then had severe medical grade reflux that required a hospital admission due her choking after feeding because of the reflux. We tried every different prescription milk and ruled out CMPA. She was also prescribed omeprazole and then domperidone. She was then referred to a gastroenterologist and he took her off all medication because they had made no difference to her symptoms. For the first 4 or so months of her life she was very hard to hold because she would thrash her arms and legs about and arch her back. She hated being cuddled and seemed permanently unsettled. It was heart breaking. We eventually got the reflux under control with a lower volume high calorie formula and gaviscon. She can now be held but only if it is over our shoulder and walking around. I am still not able to just cuddle her on the sofa or on the bed because she wriggles around and strains, unable to just relax. She never sits still and won’t sit still on my lap. Baby groups can be hard because I can’t keep her content for any length of time. She wants to stand all the time. I look at other babies and just wish our little girl would want cuddles or sit happily without crying. She moans and cries so often and I just don’t understand why. I play with her and try to keep her entertained but she will still often cry while being played with. She does love her jumperoo and activity car and she is more content when she is playing in these but not for any length of time. She also loves swimming lessons and never cries during these. Grandparents find it hard to hold her because she won’t keep still and wants to be moving all the time.
Throughout our journey people have kept saying, “it will get better when she’s three months”, or “then 6 months”, or it will get better “once she starts solids” or “once she can sit up”, but every time we reach that mile stone, it still feels like everything is still so hard.
She does her a wonderful smile and smiles a lot but goes from smiling to crying within seconds and there is no middle ground, she’s either smiling or crying.
I really worry, what if there is something wrong, and will she be this difficult for ever. I feel really sad that maternity leave has not been enjoyable because it has been emotionally and physically exhausting desperately trying to keep her content. I try to think maybe she is just frustrated with being a baby and it will get easier when she can do more. But I also worry about whether it is just her temperament and she’ll always be discontented and find it hard to sit still and relax.
Does anyone have any experience of a baby like this that can offer any insight in to whether it gets better!