Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

Flip

Original poster

did your easy baby turn into a nightmare toddler or vice versa?

14 replies

MNersanonymous · 28/04/2008 09:44

I'm just really curious after reading something on another thread.

Ds was ok as a newborn but turned into a nightmare with a capital N from maybe 3months to maybe 22months and then (tempting fate....) has been quite easy since (he has his moments though of course. (He's nearly 3 now so we could be set for a threenager phase of course!)

In his baby phase he'd refuse bottles, was really hard to wean onto solids, screamed for attention if he thought he wasn't included in conversations etc. He was always the one crying when we were with other people with babies!

So I want to know in a straw poll kind of way, if you had a really angelic baby did they turn into a nightmare toddler? And if you had a nightmare baby did they turn into an 'easy toddler'?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

LilRedWG · 28/04/2008 09:46

DD was a mega-easy baby and is almost two and starting to ramp up for toddlerdom, but I don't actually think she'll be too bad.

We did have on friend say, "Well, you deserve to have an awful teenager because she's been such an easy little baby."

2point4kids · 28/04/2008 09:46

I had very easy baby with DS1 - he is now the MOST hyperactive toddler!
DS2 is not quite as angelic so far so i'm hoping he'll be a bit easier as a toddler...

moominsmummy · 28/04/2008 09:48

DS was a gorgeous, contented smiley baby. hardly ever cried. Is now a very wilful pre-schooler and whilst not a real nightmare is certainly hard work

I always console myself that anyone with a perfect baby who turns into a perfect toddler will probably be brought home in a police car at least once in their later years

NappiesGalore · 28/04/2008 09:53

all mine were total pieces of piss as babies. and not surprisingly, somewhat more of a challenge as toddlers, what with the free will and ability to talk an all...

dss has always been hard work. lovely boy under there but boy is it tiring being around him.

Callisto · 28/04/2008 09:58

Well, DD was very easy as a baby (though nighmare sleeper) and is very easy as a toddler. She is 3 now and I am still waiting for the tantrums to start but nothing yet. She is still a nightmare sleeper though (I haven't had a single unbroken night's sleep since I became pregnant with her) so I guess that is the downside.

Meandmyjoe · 28/04/2008 12:57

I am praying my nightmare baby will turn into an easier toddler, though I'm not holding my breath. He is much as op described although has been awful since birth! Very loud, cries/ shouts/ moans for no apparent reason, resists naps (although sleeps incredibly well at night), hates the car seat, whinges pretty much all day on and off with no reason really. Just very hard work. I'm not even holding out for an easy toddler, just anthing other than a crying, unsettled, whingey baby will do!

TotalChaos · 28/04/2008 12:59

DS was an easy baby and average toddler (so whilst I found it very hard to adjust, my friends indulged in a touch of schadenfreude). but then when DS was 12 months, I honestly didn't understand why they felt they couldn't go to an art gallery with their child of a similar age

Lazycow · 28/04/2008 13:05

tbh I think this is as much about parental expectations as anything. My ds was what I would describe as a difficult baby. As a toddler he was/is on the tempremantal side but on the whole I find him a lot easier to deal with than as a baby.

My friend's ds on the other hand was a much easier baby but when he became a toddler/pre-schooler she really struggled to cope with him.

Yet he really is very like my ds (they are only a month different in age), a bit more physical and probably a bit less tempremental but from my view just a normal toddler/pre-schooler.

The differece seems to be more in her expectations than in any real difference in the nature of our children. This difference was really made clear after we had a day out together when the dss were 2 yrs old.

I finished the day by saying 'Well this was nice we must do it more often' and she said' Do you think so? I find days out with him (her ds) so stressful'

Yet it was my ds who had cried, been grumpy and played up more that day. Her ds had been quite cheerful all day.

blueshoes · 28/04/2008 13:06

If the difficulties are due to a stubborn persistent temperament, I don't see how the child can become easy as a toddler.

The good news that that if you had such a difficult baby, then chances are you will heave a big sigh of relief once the baby is a toddler because they will become happier in themselves and less frustrated once they gain mobility and control over their world.

Dd, difficult baby, is still more difficult as a toddler and pre-schooler, than her peers - she never stops pushing limits. But loads easier than when she was a baby because we have more tools at our disposal to deal with her, like reasoning, appealing to her interests and empathy.

I don't expect an easy teenager, but you never know, maybe she would have worked out all her issues by then.

Flibbertyjibbet · 28/04/2008 13:09

Yes and Yes

ds1 - 'perfect' baby. Now nightmare 3yo. Demanding, attention seeking, fussy eater etc etc.

ds2 - 'nightmare' baby now placid happy cheeky 2yo. Plays happily, just needs to know that I'm around somewhere. Mind you he eats us out of house and home I think I prefer the fussy little appetite his brother has.

I'm not even thinking about teenage years.

blueshoes · 28/04/2008 13:09

Agree with lazycow about expectations.

I visited a mother with an easy baby that just turned one. The toddler was a little whingey, nothing by my books - still went off and did her own thing allowing mother to chat with me. At the end of a few hours, she was saying she could not take it anymore.

I thought wtf, that was EASY compared to dd at that age.

Lazycow · 28/04/2008 13:10

Blueshoes - Yes sort of what I was trying to say. I find ds generally much easier nowadays but I know he is not an 'easy' child and that my friends with easier children find him very hard work sometimes.

Hassled · 28/04/2008 13:10

DD (DC2 out of 4) was the easiest baby - smiled, slept, babbled contendedly etc. She became a toddler from hell and stroppy thereafter - she's 18 now, still stroppy (although I wouldn't have her any other way) and still arguing.

But if we're doing some sort of controlled experiment/straw poll, I'd have to throw in the fact that she's my only DD, and maybe my parenting of boys is subtly different?

Fennel · 28/04/2008 13:16

I had 2 easy babies who were also easy toddlers. by anyone's standards. - slept very well, ate well, thrived, laughed, didn't cry that much. Rarely or never tantrummed.

And I had one harder baby who was a harder toddler too. Though she's ok now she's 6. Really quite delightful. In some ways now she's the easiest which is a huge shift from her first 5 years.

Flip