| 1. Cries; miserable all the time, chronically fussy |
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At the age of 11 months, the whines began. His
unhappiness could go for days, sometimes weeks. People would say
“It’s just teeth,” or “He’s just starting the terrible twos
early.” We’d have a happy few days, enough to convince me that we
were past it, and the cycle would begin again. Over a period of 6
months, his periods of unhappiness got more intense and closer
together, until he was miserable the majority of the time. (a.
5.5 mo, FC) She fussed, much like she was teething or had
an earache, most of the day. She would fuss and fuss for me to
pick her up, then as soon as I picked her up she would wiggle to get
down. The cycle repeated itself all day. Then, suddenly we
would have a few good days in a row and I would convince myself that it
must have been her teeth! Before long, we would be back to
miserable. Sometimes, she would lie on the floor in a little pile
and just weep. If I picked her up she would get even more upset
and fight to get down. (a. 7mo, FC) I call this Dr.
Jekyl/Mr. Hyde syndrome. My son will whine and cry all
day long with such intensity, but the second we leave the home or
someone comes to our house, he instantly is a happy, smiling,
easy-going angel. People comment all the time how he is the
happiest baby they have ever seen. Little do they know what goes
on when we're back home and no one else is there but Mommy. (a. 6 mo,
FC) For us, in addition to being chronically fussy (hours and hours of crying for no external reason) there was the over-reacting. Any tiny little thing that he didn't like: turning my back to him while fixing his bottle, finishing a story, moving to another room, singing a new song, if he dropped something...all of this led to a horrible, crying and screaming fit. Not a temper tantrum. It wasn't angry; he was sincerely crushed. I guess his stress levels were so high from everything else that any additional thing sent his whole world crashing down. (a. 6mo, FC) He
was pretty miserably and fussy almost all of the time the first few
weeks/months he came home. This happened especially when I was
standing in the kitchen. He would crawl over to me and hold onto my
legs--cling on and wouldn't let go. I would pick him up but when
I put him down he would start all over. I wish I knew he needed
to be carried most of the day---I would have put him in the baby
carrier. Instead, I assumed it was teeth and gave him
Tylenol. I had two other kids and couldn't hold him all day
but I should have brought in help to allow me to hold him all
day. I thought to myself, what is wrong w/him---I can't possibly
hold him all day. (a. 6mo, FC)
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