Nearly three-year-old suddenly sullen and whiny: is this a phase?

[overorout]

I’m finding my DD exhausting at the moment and not always enjoyable. She is almost two and three quarters (turns three in midsummer) and I know it’s probably a big seismic shift or change that happens but it doesn’t make it any less frustrating. She was a lovely, smiley, happy baby and younger toddler, just delightful.

Now she’s become sullen and withdrawn and scowly sometimes and other times whiny and demanding.

She never seems happy. I get flashes of it - at swimming a couple of days ago I felt like I had my ‘old’ DD back as she was laughing and smiling all the way through the lesson, but the rest of the time it feels like everything is a battle and it’s exhausting. I’m trying to tell myself it will get better …

It could be many things, and depending on timelines could be illness, but one of mine went on holiday with us aged 2, we had a brilliant week, and I swear to God we brought back the wrong child. Whiny, quick to temper, huffy. Was then not an easy child for the rest of her childhood (I have some sympathy). Of our children she is the only one who was an absolute 'easy baby' and also the only one with neuro diversity. The others were definitely not always joyous at that age (that's developmentally pretty normal) but the change in that particular child was really noticeable.

Not suggesting your child has a neurodevelopmental condition, just sharing my tale of a child with a much more sudden appearing shift in personality.

Yes, it’s a phase, but could be for anything from weeks to several years judging by my kids - sorry not to be more specific!
I think this is what the phrase ‘threenager’ was invented for.

As a pp mentioned my easiest baby also has ND but that’s probably not what’s going on here.

I would recommend giving her a dose of Calpol to see if it’s pain or discomfort related and it’s probably with doing this simple progress checker, just to make sure that her communication is on track and that’s not causing her any frustration

Worth a trip to the GP to check for UTI or anything else that could be causing the moods.