What do you find to be the most challenging thing about raising a baby?

Question

My baby is 13 months old and I love him to peices, but I find his sleeping "schedule" to be the most challenging thing about parenting! It's not even that I am losing so much sleep, it's that he's totally playing me! We just recently got him to go in his crib and fall asleep all by himself and we felt so successful. Now he will wake up at 2 or 4 in the morning and refuse to go to sleep unless we are holding him. I try not to give in, so if I leave him in his crib he will cry and cry and cry. The second I pick him up he goes back to sleep and the second I put him down he wakes back up:( Oh, so frustrating!!!! He's darned cute though so it's hard to be mad:)

Answer 1

honestly? ok my answer applies to all ages. i think the most challenging thing for me is not being able to fix everything for them. not always having the answers, and not being able to kiss away all the pain. not being able to comfort my babies to perfect health when they are sick. not being able to know exactly what is wrong with my infant when she cries.

i think the most challenging is not being the super mom our little ones think we are. i can handle the sleepless nights and midnight feedings. i can't handle not being able to make everything better and stop any pain from ever entering their lives.

Answer 2

I have young children myself so i know how hard it is. You have to be strong with him, leave him to cry for 1 minute and then go back to him, the pick up put down routine worked really well for me. I found the sleeping the hardest part of being a mum. Now my two sleep all through the night.

Answer 3

Well, my 3rd child was a bit like that also. But what my pediatrician said was to pop in reassure him that you are just around the corner, then exit. Not to approach his crib. Just to look in the door. Then he would know you are there but not going to give in. The first few nights he may cry his eyes out, but it will become less and less each night. Then he will see you mean buisness. I use to peek in and say "Honey look, its still dark out and that means its still sleepy time" Then left. He cried miserable the first night, about an hour. Then the next night for about 15 minutes, by the forth night he whimpered as I left. And the fifth night, Not a PEEP!!! So, just think about it, and give it a try. Best of luck to your family.

Answer 4

Funny thing about raising kids, just when you feel so successful and in control, they reach a new milestone or talent and you're back a few steps. Did you know that human infants only form connections between their brain cells when they are held? They evolved to sleep with their mothers. For whatever reason he's waking up, and they vary over development time, from teething to cognitive growth spurts to stress from an exciting, wonderful day, he needs his mommy to comfort him at night.

He's not refusing to sleep unless you hold him, he needs you to hold him so he can get back to sleep. The notion that children are manipulative is enduring, and in a sense, they do do all they can to get the response they need from the environment. And that's the important thing - you wouldn't be giving in to an unreasonable request, you would be giving him what he needs. It's so simple.
Let him sleep with you or hold him until he falls asleep and then put him in his crib. You'll be loving life much more if you just go with it.

(Check out orang utan, gorilla, and chimp moms. We are most closely related to these other primates - almost 99% genetically the same as a chimp. And we evolved the same development needs. Note that they rarely even put their infants and toddlers down. It's what our babies evolved to need, not what they're playing us for some bad reason to do.

Answer 5

I have a 11 week old. I would say the most challenging thing is being there for him when he wants me to be there. I have to stop what it is im doing, make a bottle,sit feed him,burp him,change him. Mean while dinner is burning and the phones ringing, I got people knocking at the door. Its very over whelming at times! Being a mom is a challenge period!

Answer 6

I find the most challenging thing is to be fair (I have 2 boys) and to not feel guilty when I do something wrong in raising them. When I make a mistake with one of them, weather its having my 1st son circumcised or not spending more quality time with them or whatever. I think I feel most guilty about not making the mistakes with my youngest that I did with my oldest. I'm older and more educated now, so I'm making better decisions for him than I did for my oldest. I feel bad about that, but we all do the best we can!

Answer 7

My son is now 7 months. The hardest part was getting him to sleep and staying asleep during the night. He is doing much better now and I feel so much more relaxed and sleepless.

Answer 8

I have a grandaughter very much the same and after some time my daughter has now learned that the little darling will pull her strings to get her own way. Having now learnt this my daughter will now leave her longer and now gets more peaceful nights.

Answer 9

MY daughter is 20 months, so she is now saying quite a few words, but not enough to really express herself. It is so frustrating now trying to communicate with her, I don't know how much she understands of what we say. Sometimes, she will try to say something and say it over and over and I won't understand, and that is very frustrating for her as well. I can't wait to get over this stage.

Answer 10

hi,
you have to keep it up giving in to to him means hes winning. hes got control. get the control back. when you put him down for the night try these tricks.
give him a nice worm bath not to hot or you could
hurt him.
when you are drying him off give him a baby oil
massage.
lastly sing softly to him as you give him the
massage.
i know that it sounds strange but my mom told it to me when my children were small and it worked for me. hope it workers for you.let me know if it does. good luck. oh try it for about a week or to, to make sure it workers.