Just kidding, I don't really think my beautiful little girl is a monster! But I am wondering if her (over)independent streak is my doing.
She has never been a particularly "snuggly" baby; even in the hospital she would push me away after she'd fed enough, and if she slept in my arms it was on her back, stretched out, rather than cuddled up to my chest. At home I tended to put her down when she was asleep so that I could get stuff done. Although when she was awake she used to want to be held a lot, it seemed to be more so that she could see what was going on. She went into her own room for night sleeping at 4 weeks and never had any problems with it. Our room is right beside hers so there was never any delay in responding to her. Naps have been in crib or cot in her own room since she was about 3 months old, and she has always been a big sleeper (goes down very well).
My concern is that now she is 7 months old, she hardly likes to be held at all. She is mixed feeding (30% BLW, 50% FF and 20% BF) and likes to feed herself - either finger foods or holding her own bottle. She will not sleep on anyone, in fact she cries bitterly if you try to cuddle her when she is tired. She also hates restraints, e.g. in pushchair or highchair - she is very active and now crawling, so constantly moving around, trying to pull herself up on furniture etc. She seems very alert and happy most of the time - I just seem to have missed out on that stage where babies want to snuggle, and I can't help thinking it's because I did something wrong in her early days. Her father and I are both very independent people and I wonder if subconsciously I've encouraged her to be the same, too soon.
Am I being ridiculously naive; should I just accept that this is part of her character?