On November 23 2009 my husband and I welcomed our beautiful, prefect, baby boy into our lives. From the beginning we found parenthood a joy and challenge. It seems our boy was what some would call "clingy". It make sense to me that a newborn would want and need to be close to his mother so we thought nothing of it. But as the months ticked by my son still needed to be held constantly. I needed a sling or wrap to get anything done around the house.
When he was eight weeks old I went back to work. My husband changed jobs so that we could work opposite shifts and we avoided daycare. Nighttime was a struggle until we discovered co-sleeping. Our "Bub" was always with a parent: days with daddy, mornings and evenings with mommy, and nighttime with both of us.
Now my son is a year old and it has become apparent that my child is clingier and fussier than most. At his birthday party Bub would only be held by myself or my husband. He cried when grandma picked him up, screamed at aunts. His baby friends were passed around to perfect strangers and were happy to do it. One of them crawled easily to my father whom he had never met. Crawled onto his lap and played with him for an hour. My son would cry for mama as soon as grandpa tried to pick him up. I felt guilty. My parents just wanted to play with their grandson and he wanted no part of them.
It got me thinking that we held him too much, should have never let him sleep in our bed, shouldn't have let him nurse so much (every hour for the first two months then every two hours until 10 months), should we put him in day-care so he can get used to being away from us?. A million questions brought me to the internet. I googled everything I could think of: 'fussy one year old', 'clingy baby', 'separation disorder'. Turns our MY KID IS NORMAL. Or at least some version of normal.
He's just one of those kids and that's why I'm writing this. Maybe my friends and family don't understand this. I'm just the mommy of a 'fuss-butt'!
What do you do to calm a fussy baby or toddler?
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