Non affectionate 8 month old

[flowerlover1990]

My 8 month old baby hates being held and cuddled in any way. He literally wriggles out of anyone's arms including mine. When I hold him on my lap and try and talk with him, he doesn't make prolonged eye contact with me and is looking everywhere for his exit. Literally climbing over my shoulder. I'm so worried about him. He gives his soft toys cuddles and kisses but no one else. He very occasionally will rest his head on me for 10 seconds if he's really tired before bed but most of the time he is trying to physically turn himself the other way. I'm so worried about him. Do I keep trying even though he wriggles away or just let him be? I'm worried there's some developmental issues going on.

My son was the same. Never wanted to be held or restrained. Cuddles were the worst thing for him. Even if he fell and hurt himself he would push me away if I tried to cuddle or comfort him.
He’s now 17 months and has recently started to rest his head on our shoulders before bedtime, sometimes he’ll put his head on our lap or if I hug my husband sometimes our son will hug our legs.
Some kids just aren’t as affectionate, but they’ll get there. I never thought he’d give us a cuddle, but he does now.
I think the more you demonstrate things the more they’ll pick up and copy. We turned kisses before bed into a fun time where my husband and I both kiss his cheeks at the same time over and over and it makes him laugh. Now he’s started to sort of kiss us by putting his face on our cheeks.
I think your son sounds more affectionate than mine was until very recently! So there’s definitely hope that more cuddles will come :)

Thank you for replying @Row23 I'm so glad the cuddles are starting to come for you, that really gives me hope things will get better. I will be honest, it breaks my heart a little bit every time he rejects me. I really like the idea of making it in to a game though, we will definitely try that one and make sure he sees us having a cuddle too. How did you cope when the cuddles weren't there? I'm really struggling with it. My little boy is the same, if he bangs his head on a toy or something and I try to cuddle him to make him feel better, he just wriggles away.

Yeah it can be a bit sad when you feel like you don’t get any affection. I just knew that one day he would cuddle - it’s just a normal thing humans do so I reasoned that he would too one day. Also reminding myself that every kid is different helped. I don’t want to force something into him that he doesn’t enjoy, but he also needs to know the affection is there for him if he wants it, so I always gave him a quick hug if he got hurt. When he gets hurt or upset now he’ll come over and push himself into us and want to be near us. It’s not a proper cuddle, but it’s the affection he needs at that moment.
Just letting him decide how much affection and when he meant he’s really starting to show it more.

Thank you so much 🩷 I'll try all of this. Really appreciate it