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are all 13 month olds like this?! i feel broken and he's my second baby after a big age gap!

12 replies

Fairylea · 13/07/2013 20:34

I'm feeling seriously :( ... life is so stressful!

Ds is 13 months and is seemingly entirely frustrated by lifeat the moment.

He can't walk unaided yet so I seem to spend the entire day walking him round by holding his hands. If I encourage him to sit and look at a book or toy he will scream because he wants to keep walking. Literally. All. Day.

I'm trying to encourage him to walk by himself by making a furniture maze etc but he's not interested. He wants me or dh to walk him round.

Coupled with this he wants to eat everything. Literally the last bit of fluff left in a corner (and our house is very clean) he will find it and eat it. I worry about him choking on something. I have obviously baby proofed as much as humanly possible but still he will manage to find dust / a random bit of plastic or paper etc.

He isn't interested in toys. And we have half a toy shop (not a stealth boast just saying it's not that he doesn't have toys). He has a walker, no interest. He had a jumperoo, hated it and cried everytime.

I have a playpen so I can leave him for the odd few minutes to make a quick lunch or put washing away and he screams blue murder. Real tantrum anger cry. He has lots of toys in it etc etc.

I take him out to the park etc and he's not interested in the swing (cries). He just wants to sit on the floor and eat the dirt. Or the flowers. Or walk with me holding him.

The only saving grace is that he sleeps amazingly well - from 6.30-6.30 everyday and has two naps of 1.5 hours during the day. However, these naps must be in his cot in the dark. If we go out for the day he literally will not sleep ALL day (record 12 hours awake) and consequently ends up in an overtired state. So basically I don't go out anywhere unless it's local and I can get back for his naps!

What are other people's babies doing? What is life like? I'm feeling like it's all awfully hard work, like endurance tests! :(

I'm waiting for that breakthrough where he finally walks or says a few words and life's less frustrating for him. I'm so tired of this. Dd is 10 years old and I'd forgotten all this :(

Needing a rant and reassurance really. :(

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ByHecuba · 13/07/2013 21:38

I was empathizing with your post so much..

I then read the bit about all that lovely sleep and any sympathy went out of the windowGrin

Sorry. It is so tiring and exasperating though, I agree.
14moDD is very much like this, though walking now, so I have to run after her to catch her before she eats the dirt.
She has got better since she's been walking, so perhaps when that happens?
They are just on the cusp of being able to communicate and it must be so frustrating for them.
Hope things pick up soonSmile

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Fairylea · 13/07/2013 21:50

Thank you for the reply :) it's reassuring to hear your dd got a lot better when she started walking, I'm really hoping that will be the case with ds. He so desperately wants to get about on his own!

(And I apologise for the sleep :) !)

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YoniMitchel · 13/07/2013 21:58

like Behecuba I was sympathising till I read about his great sleeping! My DS was just like that before he started walking, such hard work and at 22 months he still doesn't play with toys .He is alot easier now that he can walk although he still wants my input in most of his games (kicking footballs, sand pit etc)

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ByHecuba · 13/07/2013 22:05

I'm just Envy Grin

DD ignored her toys this eve, instead spent 5 minutes walking round the room wrapping an old sock around her head and arms and muttering to herselfHmm
Good luck!

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Fairylea · 13/07/2013 22:11

Thanks both... I feel embarrassed I'm moaning when I know he sleeps well. I know others have awful nights. I'm maybe being a wuss.... ds just seems to completely tire himself out like a tornado the time he is awake! He virtually leaps out of my arms when I pick him up at 6.30am and is off walking from the get go!

:) your dd sounds much like ds By - his favourite thing at the moment is walking about holding an old shoe he's picked up and putting it in his mouth and shaking his head at the same time. Or sitting pulling a book to pieces. Which I am an awful mother and let him do.occasionally because I am too shattered from constantly tantrums etc to stop him!

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MiaowTheCat · 13/07/2013 22:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

bishboschone · 13/07/2013 22:44

My ds has always slept well but he is such hard work when he is awake I need the sleep to recover . He has gdd and is very frustrated and cries about everything. He too wants to walk with my hands and will scream blue murder if I leave him for a second .

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NapaCab · 14/07/2013 06:12

I can sympathize. My DS was a nightmare at 13 months, all the screaming and grouching and whinging started at that age when he used to be a really chilled out little baby.

It is just frustration from not being able to do what they want.

If it cheers you up, DS walked literally a day after he turned 13 months, so if your DS is walking holding your hand and really keen to practice walking so much, he'll probably be walking on his own any day now. Not that the whinging and screeching ends after that but at least it means you can take him to the park / play spaces and let him burn off some energy now and again.

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jasmin27 · 18/07/2013 20:49

You have my sympathy. I thought I was the only one with a very whingy nearly 12 month ds. like your ds can't walk un aided so likes being walked around but even more so he likes climbing. and all he wants to do is climb up everything. I'm having to move furniture around to stop him getting to the windows. The whinging starts as soon as he is up in the morning i can't even have a cup of coffee in peace. he is taking up all my attention and feel bad for Dd 2.5. To top things off he is a bad sleeper as well. Keep telling myself thing's will get better. Thanks I needed a little rant.

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CabbageHead · 19/07/2013 11:09

Yes my 15mth ds alternates from being happy to whingeing and clingy and was really bad around 13mths... He loved his trolley tho, that he could push around himself with our help to steer it, made him feel independent like he was achieving something himself... He also had a truck that he could push too..and the laundry trolley.

He is walking by himself now and is just so much happier, so i think you are just o n the cusp of a breakthrough.. Ds ok with some toys but prefers real objects, so i give him kitchen tools like egg beater, wind up torches etc.. things he can fiddle with, he loves taking lids on and off containers so i save any used plastic food containers (yoghurt etc) and that amuses him esp whilst trying to feed him!

Have you heard of learning schemas? Children fall into different categories for the way they like to learn. For example, my ds is very rotational and trajectory, so loves anything that turns spins, wheels, spinning tops, cars, etc and loves to throw things on the ground to hear the bang, so likes drums etc.. So maybe you could find out how ur DS likes to learn so u can encourage him with toys or objects that are interesting to him...? (Google learning schemas for children to find out what i mean)..

I also plan around naps much to everyones horror! Room is dark like cave otherwise wont settle and switch off...sooo annoying but ive learnt not to compromise, am happy to stay at home to maintain sleep therefore my sanity!

Does he have molars coming thru by any chance?

Your ds sounds very determined, i think he will relax once he can walk properly. Can someone else come and mind him (take him walking outside) while you get some space.rest.chores done...? I go and visit neighbours when i am going around the twist..it helps!

Hope you get your breakthrough soon... Wine at dinnertime helped me heaps lol!

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beckyf21 · 21/07/2013 13:38

Wow i could have written this post myself! My DS 12 months is exactly the same, gone from a very happy chilled out baby to a whingey frustrated baby. Sleeps gone out the window too. He wakes several times a night crying, standing in his cot, used to sleep through lovely! He is only happy when being walked round and eats everything off the floor too! Really frustrating. Feel sorry for my other DS 3 years cos i have no time for him. Hoping things improve when he can walk!

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SpanielFace · 21/07/2013 13:51

DS is 11 months and obsessed with eating fluff - we have a heavily moulting dog and cat at the moment, so it's a constant battle - god knows how much animal hair he's eaten in his short life! Grin

He isn't yet crawling (or really trying to), so has to be carried everywhere (and has a panicky melt down when I move more than 2 foot away from him). He's a big, tall, chubby boy, at 25lbs, and my back is starting to get sore from lifting him. The sooner he gets mobile, the better! (Although I'm sure it might regret saying that!). I'm
also fed up of the "Is he not crawling yet?" comments from people. Hmm

His absolute favourite thing to do at the moment is sit on my lap, either poking his fingers up my nose or in my mouth, or chewing my clothes. A muslin or a toy apparently isn't acceptable - it has to be what I'm actually wearing. He actually bit a hole in my top yesterday. Confused

I also plan my days around his naps, as he won't nap unless in the dark & in his cot. He's always been the same. Everyone thinks its odd, my mum is quite critical, but it avoid me ending up with an overtired grumpy baby.

Just to let you know that you're not alone. Hopefully it gets easier, eventually?

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