Is this worrying?

[MiniAlphaBravo]

Dd2 is 16 months and doesn’t walk yet. Doesn’t seem to want to.

She is obsessed with breastfeeding, even though a few months back she had gone down to morning and evening only, pretty much.

She gets extremely angry about nothing and arches her back, chucks her head around like anything and has hurt herself/ us with this headbanging!

It’s really hard to comfort her. You have to stand up and hold her, she won’t let you sit down and hates singing, bouncing etc. usually for me she will only settle for a breastfeed.

She is quite clingy and likes to be held a lot - probably normal for her age.

She sometimes hits herself in the face or on the head when she is angry/frustrated/upset.

She used to be happy all the time but now she doesn’t seem to be happy hardly ever. Just feel worried and I’m not sure if there is anything that I can put my finger on but these things might add up to something or nothing.

Didn't want to read and run. A lot of what you describe sounds absolutely normal for this age and stage. Once she begins walking and is able to communicate she will be a lot happier within herself and a lot of this behaviour will die down. As for the breastfeeding my DD is 23 months and still goes through phases like this where she will want to bf loads and I have to pretty much say no the majority of the time as it gets a bit annoying. I just reserve it for comforting at bedtime and to connect in the morning before we start our day. The rest of the day I distract her with games or offer a drink or food when she asks and 9/10 times she is happy with that. It's all a phase and it will pass even though it probably feels never ending at the moment. Hang in there OP

What you describe can be very normal behaviour. Reverting to a more baby state comes and goes. If she's starting to crawl or cruise and moving physically further from you then increasing breastfeeding can reestablish a bond and get close to you again. Likewise anger is common from this age. The 'terrible twos' isn't a myth. It's the common stage in a toddlers life when they understand so much of their surroundings but their language isn't good enough to express themselves so it causes frustration. Rest assured that it's more than likely normal and it will pass.

She sounds exactly the same as my dd, down to the struggling when being held/head banging. Dd is 17 months so they’re very similar in age. I’ll be following with interest.

I know of several people whose children didn’t walk until 18 months, I would say there’s no need to worry unduly yet.

I bf until 2yrs and around 18months my son was feeding like a newborn again.

The rages also sound quite normal-I found distraction worked the best and sometimes just putting him down somewhere safe to thrash around a bit! Goes totally against the grain to start with but seemed to work!

Oh and yes cheekbone/nose bashes we’re common to the point where I would flinch if I could tell he was getting worked up and made a sudden movement!!

DS was 15months when he started walking. He had perfected a very speedy crawl and had no real desire to walk. In the end we had to spend a day trying to get him to walk between us as he hadn't really shown an interest. I was 8mo this oregnant at the time and I just couldn't carry him anymore! If we hadn't have done that I think he'd have happily crawled been carried for another month or two! The rest sounds normal for that stage too. If it's making you anxious then mention it next time you see a health visitor, more to put your mind at rest than anything else

Thanks for all the replies, really appreciate reading them. I think I will try to talk to my hv but good to hear this is generally pretty normal. My dd1 is only two years older but she wasn’t quite the same as dd2 (obviously!) and I definitely don’t remember the head banging/angry/throwing herself about thing as much. She was a slower walker but faster than dd2.

Just had another nightmare night where she woke up 4 times between going down at 7.30 ish and 10. Then slept in her cot til 1. Then I had to bring her in with us but she woke up so many times, did loads of head butting and was crying and not going back to sleep at like 4.30 so when dh got up for work we had to put her in her cot and she’s been crying in there for quite a while now. But if she goes in with me she’s a danger to herself as she’s constantly trying to fall off the bed/hit me/scratch me/poke my eye out and/or headbutt me. Really can’t cope with this at the moment

Oh yes I also tried to breastfeed her but she bit me really hard

Is she hungry?

Maybe. I’ve now picked her up and she’s scratched her head feel terrible for her. Giving her a feed and will try her with some breakfast. She didn’t eat a lot of dinner I guess. She threw most of it on the floor so I assumed she didn’t want it!!

Has she got a temp? Could she be ill maybe?

D'S only started walking at 16 months. He also stopped wanting to BF when he was hungry at about that age so I started making bread and butter to take to bed just in case. It helped and when he outgrew the stage he didn't demand snacks at night.

Baby signing helped a lot with the frustration issues.

She isn’t ill, she was quite happy when I took her down stairs. She did eat breakfast but didn’t seem ravenous. This is quite a regular thing unfortunately! Will try taking some food upstairs for her for night time. Maybe will try baby signing as well, thank you! She can actually say quite a few words and makes her intentions known quite well but I’ve always thought signing was interesting but never actually done it. Worth a go!

Just spent ages feeding her and reading books. Clearly tired so put her in the cot and stayed in the room. Twice now she has hit her head on the cot really hard. Bruised her own head. Have obviously had to take her out of cot now. Surely this isn’t normal?