DD is really intense and can be moody and demanding. We called her "high needs" for awhile. Now we call her "spirited."
Aren't babies supposed to want to please their caregivers? She really doesn't care. She completely refuses to copy us or do the things we ask her to do unless she is feeling like it (she won't copy me clicking my tongue, or stick her tongue out or go get her babydoll or whatever if we ask. I really don't care if she does it, just saying we know she can because she'll do it when we ask and she is in the mood, but she doesn't care to please us.)
All these silly baby books say babies LOVE copying their parents and that things like smiles and stickers will motivate your baby to do things. They say that babies smile when they achieve new things. She never ever smiles at those times. Each time she conquers some new task, she is just all serious about it and like, "OK. NEXT!"
When she was 4 months old she was going through serious stranger anxiety and my rude mother told me my daughter was hard to like. I think other people agreed.
We went to the peds today and DD clamped her mouth shut when the doctor tried to get inside and stuck her lower lip out and slapped the doctors hand away again and again.
The doctor was like "Wow, she has a temper!"
Then she saw how aggressively DD tried to get in my shirt, and how she latches on (almost biting) and acts while breastfeeding and was apparently surprised by this, too (she is a Dr and a lactation consultant, so I guess she'd know.)
She screams in her car seat almost always and I have been afraid to go anywhere alone with her for months. I don't understand "cry it out", because my child would hyperventilate and nearly pass out from exhaustion before giving up (she did this in the car seat.)
Did I somehow do this with attachment parenting or is she picking up on how serious I am, too, or something? She laughs more than she used to, but we never got a real belly laugh until she was 6 months old and we have to work for them (though she'll laugh if I trip or something lol.)
So, did I do this? I really want to hear I DID NOT DO THIS, but several family members have given me the impression they think her personality is all my fault.
EDIT::: I do want to say that I love DD and we have an absolute blast together when she is in a good mood (which is often as long as I get her to nap and let her free to play otherwise. I love how curious, persistent, and smart she seems to be. I just don't love that other people think I've messed my baby up already and I'm wondering what I'm really in for when she is a toddler.
