My 2.5 year old slept like a champ as a baby, with the occasional hiccups from leaps and whatnot. Nowadays she goes through even bigger periods of struggle with sleep, and I'd say she's a worse sleeper. So I'd say there's been a (NOT GOOD) change there.
In the absence of colic I'd say the newborn stage is the honeymoon period. Toddlers are just bad, bad, bad. 😂
I am shocked how many of you remember your kids' personalities from so long ago, lol. I remember S being a terrible sleeper until we sleep trained him, then he was a wonderful sleeper (terrible sleeper now 5 years later). I remember him being really willing to eat almost anything we gave him (opposite of now), and I remember him always being adventurous (climbing onto the table to stand up there at 10 months old...and now at 5 jumping off boxes in the terrain park while we ski).
I guess he has always been cuddly which he still is, but I just cannot remember personality wise, lol.
Oh 100% the babies I brought home from the hospital are 100% the same kids years later lol
DS was a shit sleeper, terrible at self soothing, difficult to eat/gain weight, type of baby. At 9 he's still the one that will wake me MOTN vs his younger sister. He still struggles with emotional regulation/self soothing. Potty training was a nightmare and he had accidents for.... a very very long time. I'm still on top of him and his eating habits as he would consist of air if it was his choice. Some of the emotions/food issues are ADHD related. But we pretty much knew a ADHD diagnosis was in his future from a very young age. He had a constant motor running since his early days and just hasn't stopped. As cranky as I make him sound as a baby, he had a lot of cheerful moments and still to this day has the best belly laugh. He's the adventurous one who jumps first and thinks later. He's very outgoing and has never met a stranger.
DD literally STTN the night we brought her home from the hospital. I didn't even know babies could do that as DS was 2 at that time and still wasn't STTN consistently. She EBF without issue at all. She was just a chill, go with the flow baby. Even now she goes with the flow and accommodates DS, who cannot go with the flow. She's a good sleeper and will ask to go to bed sometimes. She pretty much potty trained herself before the age of two. She's a rule follower. She is cautious & reserved, very shy with new people. She examines all her options (and then struggles to make a decision). She can be super anxious and has perfectionist tendencies, which is consistent with her only deciding to walk on her own once she was completely sure she could make it across the room.
Post by redpenmama on Feb 13, 2023 12:03:21 GMT -5
Mostly.
My youngest was my easiest baby by far, and she continues to be the easiest kid at almost 6. She's just generally happy and goes with the flow, which is probably a byproduct of her being the third kid, to some extent.
My older two were more difficult babies, and while they have definitely chilled some, I can see aspects of that baby/toddler personality in them now (at 11 and 9).
Kid #1 was your stereotypical unicorn baby. Good eater, amazing sleeper, and easy to keep happy. At 9.5 he will still generally eat what we ask him to eat with a few exceptions, sleeps fine once his melatonin kicks in, and is happy as long as he's getting what he wants. But since he can't always get what he wants and is becoming a full blown tween his attitude royally sucks sometimes. And he is super active, which is ironic because he didn't army crawl until 11 months and walked at 16 months-all still within average ranges per my PT coworkers but on the later end. Once he got fully mobile, we were screwed!
Kid #2 was...not as easy as her older brother. She ate fine as long as her BM/formula was her preferred temp (lukewarm at the coldest and certainly not freshly out of the fridge because that would just not do), sucked at sleeping, and spent the first 9 months of her life yelling at either my husband or her babysitter all day. But never me We sucked it up and sleep trained her at 9 months which just about fixed things on the sleep front, and spending 6 weeks straight home with Daddy when Covid first shut the world down and he wasn't working fixed her desire to be home with only me. She is now 3.5 and is a busy, bossy AF little pistol who is entirely too smart for our (any adult who has to take care of her) own good and is a fairly picky eater but she eats better for her current babysitter so I'll take what I can get. Of note, she has been harder to get on board with potty training than her brother was-she 100% gets it but has just not been motivated too. Bribery is helping.
Not really as a newborn, but I think aspects of their personality as early as the 6-12 months age are still present today. They've changed some ... mostly they started having OPINIONS ... but one is an energetic goofball and the other is cheery and likes to keep still.
My kids are totally different than how they were as infants. DS1 was a ROUGH infant. Very little sleep, very fussy, needed constant movement at all times. Exhausting lol. He turned into a SPECTACULAR toddler/younger child . Amazing rule follower, happy, chill etc(he’s now about to turn 16 and we don’t talk about teen drama lol)
DS2 was an incredible infant. Suuuuper chill. We did have trouble with sleep in that he was up incredibly early for the day for a long time, but was chill and happy when up. He turned into a major drama llama tantruming toddler/young child of great difficulty. However he has since been diagnosed with anxiety disorder and we know now a lot of that behavior was due to anxiety. He’s now almost 11 and fabulous, but a major introvert which I find interesting.
Both were always very early risers and that has stuck. Even then teen doesn’t sleep super late when given the chance. That has stuck.
Post by imojoebunny on Feb 13, 2023 20:05:59 GMT -5
No. My horrible baby is 16, and thank all the things nothing like her first 2 years. I thought her head would spin off she was such an angry little thing. She is about as pleasant as a teenage can be. My easy baby, who didn’t sleep is a joy at 13. He still doesn’t sleep, but he reads, and let’s me sleep. His bad years were 4-6. I would have given him to a stranger in those years, but it turns out that his desire for independence is great, once he was able to actually be more independent.
Right down to DD2 deciding she was going to come the day before her planned induction. Even from the beginning she was going to do it her way.
My 4.5 year old has been dramatic from the womb. Both my kids are dramatic, but she takes it to a whole new level. I would say for the most part she is the same. My teenager was a pretty easy baby and very energetic but fairly easygoing toddler. A bit of a wild thing (mostly at school where he had an audience) from 5-10 and now at 14.5 is just a gem 90% of the time. He has ADHD and once we got him diagnosed and on medication it was life changing for all of us. I have a feeling my daughter also has ADHD but what she also has that he didn't have is her dad's stubborn streak. She is the most stubborn child I have ever met.
Post by pinkdutchtulips on Feb 14, 2023 13:39:22 GMT -5
No .. not at all.
As a baby, she was incredibly sweet, happy, easygoing. Fast forward 2 years and she was happy (when she wanted to be) but sweet and easygoing were a thing of the past.
No, both are opposites of what they were as newborns.
Kid A was smiley, slept soundly and very early, just a really easy baby who enjoyed most anything. Now they are extremely moody and a night owl. But they're 14 and trans, which obviously isn't easy, so maybe things will get better as they age.
Kid B was a screamer when awake and almost never asleep. Like, NO naps over 30 minutes, starting on day 2, and at best 5 hours straight at night. It was wild. Now she's 10 and just the mellowest, sweetest kid.
Post by pinkpeony08 on Feb 15, 2023 10:15:07 GMT -5
One is the opposite- was a challenging infant who cried all the time, literally kicked out of in home daycare bc she was too challenging. A switch flipped around 6 months. She’s now 10 and a delightful human being who is a joy to be around.
One I guess is similar? He was an easier baby than she was, but still wasn’t super breezy. He’s also a great kid.
Baby is yet to be determined, but I would say is happy but always busy now which was not the case when she was tiny.