The 10 Best things about a High Needs Baby - Page 3

[Luvmybug]

Wow! This really made my sleep deprived husband and me laugh, smile, and cry! I see it has been quite some time since this original post has been written. Our first baby, who is now 4 months seems to fit the high needs profile like a glove! So, does it get any easier as they get older? Or just more entertaining? Are they EVER able to entertain themselves for more than a minute or two??? ha ha Since we are first time parents, we have spent practically all of our son's first 4 months at the pediatrician, thinking there MUST be something wrong with him. He is just SO fussy. We are able to keep him content for just minutes at a time before we have to switch gears and change up the atmosphere and figure out what will make him happy next. He keeps us on our toes for sure!!!

[Luvmybug]

Wow! This really made my sleep deprived husband and me laugh, smile, and cry! I see it has been quite some time since this original post has been written. Our first baby, who is now 4 months seems to fit the high needs profile like a glove! So, does it get any easier as they get older? Or just more entertaining? Are they EVER able to entertain themselves for more than a minute or two??? ha ha Since we are first time parents, we have spent practically all of our son's first 4 months at the pediatrician, thinking there MUST be something wrong with him. He is just SO fussy. We are able to keep him content for just minutes at a time before we have to switch gears and change up the atmosphere and figure out what will make him happy next. He keeps us on our toes for sure!!!

[poiyt]

My DD#2 has been high needs since she was about 4-5 weeks old. She is now nearing 3 and still high needs. I can so relate to this list and I am so glad its hear. I want to save this somewhere and read it again and again and again.DD#2 is more than I can handle some days - this list is a helpful reminder of the things she can teach me, and makes me laugh :)

[Lou Lou]

Omg I'm not alone hahah my girl is 13 months and I have to say I'm exhausted from this last year it has been. Excruciating ,there's been melt downs tears ,fights between me and my fiancé ,not a full night sleep in 13 months sound like torture lol , I'am , was always comparing my child to others and wondering why my child doesn't just go straight to sleep and self sooth ( don't be silly) but I have come to the conclusion that I have a bright spirited beautiful little girl who will keep us on our toes until she's an adult haha we new from the thrashing around in my belly that we were going to have our hands full we were not wrong hahaha

[Baby_Cakes]

My first was/is high needs, my 2nd is a "normal" baby.  I agree that if he'd been my first I would have been looking around wondering when the work would start!  He's so easy to please, and is so easygoing compared to the go-go-go of my first!  Such a great list.  Old post, I know, but still.  Great list!

[Heather Lyn]

I think this post should keep going and going, because it is so helpful for mothers of high needs babies.  Ever since mine was born, he has been a full time job in a way none of my friends' babies are.  I mean, they're always a full time job - but there are babies that need the regular kind of constant attention (because they're babies) and there are the ones that need ALL the attention.  Right now.  Or else.  Mine is in the second group.  For the first 4 months of his life, he would have a nuclear meltdown if you even broke eye contact with him, let alone put him down to take a shower. 

He came out screeching and didn't stop for at least 4 months.  But it wasn't what most people call colic; he didn't cry for hours and hours.  It was more that he would go from 0 to 60 ("60" being air-raid level screaming) in about one second with no warning signs.  Strangers would come up to me and ask if everything was okay.  Friends repeatedly asked things like "are you sure there's nothing pinching him?  That cry sounds like he's in pain."  Every time we went out in public, someone would make a "nice lungs" comment.  When he was happy, he was smiling and one of the most engaging infants I've ever met.  When he was unhappy, the whole world found out, fast.

No hours of peaceful newborn sleeping in my arms.  No sleepy snuggling in a carrier on my chest.  No sweet first bath.  No laying on a playmat for even 5 minutes while I ate/used the bathroom.  No mommy-baby yoga (the very idea of doing that with him still makes me laugh out loud).  I had to wear earplugs a lot of the time - not to drown him out completely (he blasted through earplugs) but to take the edge off the high pitched scream.

The last 4 months have been a little quieter, but still not quiet.  He shrieks like a maniac when he is displeased, tired or bored.  At 9 months old he still wakes up 4 times a night to eat. 

Hardest of all, he's more demanding with me than my husband or any other caretaker, so I'm not sure others in my life see how high maintenance he is (or they see it, but they're not the ones dealing with the sleep deprivation, so it sort of rolls off of them).

I am dealing with it, but some days are really hard.  I compare him to other, more mellow babies and I feel sorry for myself.  Then I feel guilty for feeling sorry for myself, when I have a healthy baby and there are people I know whose kids are ill or disabled and others I know who can't conceive.  I'll probably look back and miss this time in my life, etc. etc.

Everyone loves him.  He's smart, entertaining and alert.  He has a ridiculous smile.  He's just always awake and always wanting to be played with - always - and I'm tired.  I hired a few hours a week of childcare because I'm so exhausted from being his full time caretaker.

I don't want him to be a different person.  I love him.  Sometimes I just want it to be a little quieter.