High maintenance 14 month old

[Bedsheets4knickers]

She's grisly, moany, probably miserable 75% of the day. She's mobile but not walking yet. She's started lashing out slightly and on the whole is demanding .
It's getting me down to be honest, I feel like my efforts are just wrong and that I'm actually annoying her .
Anyone else having same sort of troubles???

Yes! But mine is a 17 month old DS. It seems like he doesn't really want to do anything... Just whinge, half-heartlessly play for a few mins, have a bit of a cry, have a tantrum, read a book with me, get irritated by me, have a whinge...

I just keep repeating "it's just a phase" and hoping he goes back to being my cheerful little boy again soon

We've been there with both of our boys at that age. Both were grisly, whinging babies. Never wanted to be put down but wouldn't sit nicely on my knee either, always had to be actively jiggling them or stimulating them in someway. They grew into miserable and hard work toddlers. DS1 was gentle but a big crier, DS2 was a whinger and used to bite and hit.

DS1 imploded at about 13 months and seemed to cry more than a newborn, despite that fact that he could walk, he just was so frustrated and miserable. DS2 went through something similar and to be honest it is only closer to age 2 that I really noticed an improvement in both of their temperaments.

For DS1 it got better once could talk well and understand us better at around 19 months. DS2 seemed really hard work til about 22 months, again the winging and crying only stopped once he could talk in simple sentences and understand the world better.

No words of advice but just to let you know that you're not the only one who's gone through it. It's horrible when they seem so much harder than everyone else's little smilers. Be kind to yourself. Try getting out every day, for your own sanity. It will get better.

I was thinking that it's related to frustration too. Greater awareness of the world and how they want it to work but not enough tools to achieve stuff.

Sometimes I just start singing random songs out loud to try and keep a cheerful mood going but I think that annoys him more

Could she be teething? I found the molars took forever to appear and made my DD very grouchy for a while before they turned up.

I have a 14 month old who has only recently stopped being like this, and that was with the emergence of her final canine. She was always the grizzly one; grizzly mornings, grizzly evenings, never happy! Her personality has almost done a u-turn since she had her 16th tooth through. She has been an early and quick teether and miserable pretty much her whole existence with it. Maybe not very helpful, but perhaps she suffers with her teeth too.

Yep teething playing apart. She still only has about 10 teeth. She's always been fussy from about 6 months old. I'm really losing patience with her and with dp not back at work until Monday ive found myself taking ds out on play dates and leaving her with dp. If you walk past her she kicks off, if you change her nappy she kicks off. If you look left instead of right she kicks off. Moans in the pushchair, car seat ,shopping trolley. I don't get it. My partner and myself are quite fun loving, playful people.
Pray it's teeth and that they bloody hurry up and come through. I'm losing my marbles!

Honestly, I know I said it before but it really will get better. For what it's worth both of our have kicked off for similar reasons, looking the wrong way, closing a door, opening a door, walking past them, standing up, sitting down, whinged even when playing or reading to them, started hitting me or the book, throwing toys, stropping over nothing. They both whined and complained in the pushchair and car seat and shopping trips became impossible (online grocery shopping has possibly saved my sanity and my marriage )

DS1 is 6 now and really easy and lovely to be around. Very articulate and just a nice, gentle, sweet little boy.

DS2 is just turned 2 and whilst we still have strops, they are much less whingy and prolonged and also far more predictable and less frequent. He has bad days but at around 14 months we struggled to ever have any 'good' days.

Honestly it'll get easier as she grows up. Somewhere between the ages of 18 months and 3, DS1 went from being really, really difficult to being absolutely bloody brilliant!!! We are getting there with DS2. Kids like this are hard work but it pays off in the end. x