how do you manage with a demanding baby?

[naturalbaby]

i have a nearly 9month old, 2yr old in the midst of his terrible 2's (No!! I will not do it!!!) and a 3yr old.

Baby just wants to be with me all day long. Not just with me, clinging to me. If he doesn't have my undivided attention he screams and gets hysterical. He is very mobile so follows me round and climbs up my legs the minute i stand still long enough.

He screams every time I put him down to sleep because all his BFeeds coincide with a sleep so he is fed to sleep a lot, which i am trying to stop. He screams on and off for 2hrs at lunchtime for the lunchtime sleep. He screams at the slightest noise once he's gone to sleep.

I am really, really, really struggling. as much as i would love to just carry him round all day, feed on demand, co-sleep...i can't. well i could, but then i would never get anything done and my older 2 would get up to even more mischief and mayhem than they already do!

we had a lovely, perfect routine going since day 1 - he went to sleep happily on his own for every sleep, had lovely long sleeps but it's all gone out the window.

how do you do it??

Oh yes the 'easy' third child

Mine was/is as you describe. She is still (at 2)very clingy and gets into bed, demands my attention etc etc. She was a difficult baby - restless, colicky, clingy.

I used a baby carrier when she was hysterical and that helped a little. But in the end you have to let him scream a bit while you get things done, attend to other DC.

Grit your teeth, it will get better. Mine play with each other really well now but DD3 is still very jealous and possessive.

i think i'm over-compensating because i was so baby led and laid back with ds2 and he spent a lot of time very happy on his own with his big brother.

i was lucky he wasn't colicky and was a very easy baby but is getting more demanding and clingy as he gets older. i thought it would be easier when he got mobile but it's got worse.
the problem is he does scream a lot, and i do just have to leave him but i am so run down and stresed/tired i can't cope with it very well at all and tend to loose the plot which just makes him worse

I don't really know what the right thing is to do. I find I am less certain of 'parenting' methods the more children I have.

What about just thinking 'feck it' and feeding to sleep, co sleeping, just choosing the path of least resistance so that you get through the day feeling less frazzled.

Believe me, you are doing the hardest bit at the moment. I noticed a change when DD3 managed to run around after her sisters and had enough speech to join in games.

Try to get away from DC when you can. Have a break, it will help your mental health.

^ like

My six month old is mixed fed but bf to sleep generally so quite clingy. I also have a 17 month old and 3 older children. They sometimes have to cry, but I hate it. Generally, I just lug dd4 around with me everywhere on my hip! It will pass. Its shit at the time but you're nearly there... He'll be mobile soon and they'll keep each other amused.

Remember 'this too will pass'.

Keeps me sane.

Completely agree with last poster - a decent sling is vital. Hardly used a sling past 6 months with DC1, but both DCs 2 & 3 lived in one. I totally loved my Hotsling - mainly because it was just so very very easy to use, pop in and out, no straps or tying or fiddling about. So easy to go up, down, up down etc as they want to and as they become more independent and start walking, then get tired and want to be carried etc.

the path of least resistance is to have him clinging to me all day and night and i can't really do much with my 2 and 3yr olds as it is, so that's the problem really. the routine was working so well so i've been fighting to get it back on track.
he is mobile, very mobile but not quite old enough to play with older brothers yet so they spend all day shooing him away and he spends all day chasing after me!
have got several slings but he wants to be out and about and moving whenever i put him in, then he wants to be carried about when not. i use the ring sling for round the house but it's in the car boot for quick trips out so will go dig it out. all i want to do is sort mountain of washing out!
he went to bed very early today so i escaped for an hour but then the older kids kicked off big time so dh was a bit worse for wear by the time i got back.

i know things could be a lot worse. we're still being woken up several times a night by 1, 2 or all 3 of them but they are really good most of the time so long as i take them out pretty much everyday to wear them out!

All my DC have been v. demanding and No:3 is the worst. He's 2 and 4 months now and still demands a lot of my time and is v. jealous of the other 2 getting attention, although he is better than he was. He doesn't speak much so that doesn't help the situation.
I struggle a lot of the time but tell myself (again and again) that it will not last for ever.

Not much help-sorry but you are not alone even if it feel like it.
Also as the children go to nursery and school life gets easier.

Hi, i have 6 children and my youngest 10 month old son is super clingy, he spends a lot of the day climbing up my leg yelling. It is exhausting so you really have my sympathy. I am very lucky though in that he sleep's well at night. I put him down for a nap around 11am, if after 10 mins he's still fussing i bring him back down, play with him for a while and then try again about 1pm. If he hasn't had the first nap he always goes down for the second.

I have a very demanding toddler too (and my eldest daughter is severely disabled), it is very tricky, although better now the toddler goes to nursery a few hours a week.

Like the poster above said i try to just keep holding on to the fact i know it won't last forever. I've been here and done this before having had so many. It's really tough though, i hope you manage to get your feet up for a few hours in the evening. Is there anyone you could call on to help you out occasionally, maybe have one of the little ones for a couple of hours once a week ? It's lovely to let your ear's have a short break from the noise, i enjoy the school run because some day's it's the only quiet time i get and the fresh air is lovely. Oh when i'm sorting laundry (twice a day usually) i put my 10 month old beside me, give him a wooden spoon, pots, pans and some other random but safe utensil's he doesn't normally see and that always seem's to keep him quiet for 10 min's or so

ah just seen this thread after posting about extreme separation disorder from my 11 month old in the behaviour thread. ...i'm still up now (almost 1am) and finally my dd is asleep (in my bed again!) for now, I now need to start on the ironing !!! slightly distracted seeking advice on here :o

i think the hardest thing is all the washing! i seem to spend all day putting odd bits away, moving them round the radiators to dry quicker, putting another load on.... I love the idea of sitting down twice a day to do one big sort out with baby playing happily beside me!

baby is a bit better now but i'm still struggling with the daily 4pm grizzle. i was trying to cook dinner for him and the family with baby on my hip and my 2yr old injuring himself every 1/2hr or so (split lip, bumped head, fall off sofa, dinner boiling over).

Naturalbaby
I have a pulley in my kitchen which has room to dry all the clothes (at least 2 loads per day) and it's fab!! It also means things dry fairly flat so I never need to iron anything. If you have space then I would really recommend one

hmm, no space for a pulley. they get spread across the kids rooms, so it's not too bad cause they just have to go from hanging in the doorway to the drawers. dh keeps telling me to just use the tumble drier but it's a combi washer/drier so not as efficient, plus our bills are big enough as it is.

Sling! Get him on your back. My youngest spent her entire babyhood slung so that I could get on with things.

yup, been there done that! i walk ds1 to nursery with baby on my back pushing a double buggy. half the battle is we've got lots of stairs and i'm up and down off the floor so much. i've got a problem with my neck at the moment between bad posture/stress/tension/being too darn tall to have such little people to work with!!