For those who had fussy babies when did things turn around and how is your child now?

My oldest son was a very fussy baby. I may have said this in another thread and I am sorry if I did, but the boy would not let me put him down for pretty much the first year of his life. He insisted on being held constantly – by me and only me. When I put him down he would cry and cry and cry until I picked him up again. He got very easily over-stimulated and needed a lot of quiet time. He loathed loud noises and screamed in crowded noisy places. I remember having to turn off a busy road where we were talking a walk because the traffic bothered him so much he wailed the whole time. Pretty early on, probably when he was less than a month old, I told a friend that he cried if I didn’t hold him, her response “So hold him.” That’s what I did. He started turning the corner fussiness-wise when he was between a year and 18 months or so, but he has always needed plenty of attention.

My fussy baby is 14 years old now. He is really smart and a great kid. He works hard in school and gets straight A’s. He is very responsible and (I am told) mature for his age. I am not sure if I would describe him as a go-getter, but he is a pretty neat person.

My experience is practically exactly like @SuperMouse,‘s only it was my second child, and my daughter is now 17 years old. Extremely fussy baby is now an awesome teenager. My other two were not fussy at all as infants, but are also awesome teenagers, so take all this with a grain of salt. Just know that there is hope, I promise! :)

My son had a lot of tummy trouble and gas and fussed a lot. In those days Volkswagen was still advertising with their farfegnugen commercial. He was the Fartin’Poopin baby. I would have to hold him a lot or work his little legs to pop the farts out and that helped a lot. The other problems worked out that his digestive system didn’t like the formula we were using.
Today he’s in College and still farts and poops a lot. lol

My first baby was incredibly fussy, to the point where sometimes I just had to lay her down in her cradle for 5 minutes, and go outside and cry. I had to take those little breaks about 3–4 times per week. It lasted for about 6–7 months.

She is 11 now, and is very assertive and headstrong. She has a lot of my personality, so she’s a very difficult child sometimes, but I think she’s going to use that to her advantage and go far in life.

Seriously though, if the fussing starts to get too awful, do not feel bad if you need to put him down (in a safe place of course) for 5 minutes and go have a cry or a piece of chocolate or something, so you can have a quick break and refocus your thoughts.

4 months. He was a colicky baby, which I came to understand is a personality thing, and not a digestive thing at all. At four months, it turned off like a switch. I almost broke down before that, not knowing, I would just rock my baby and cry with him. He is 16 now, with the same savant qualities I have, which don’t make for a good student. He has had his issues (with the law) but he is fine. A small aside: when he was very young, I watched him playing with younger children. I could tell then he would never be a bully, and he never was. Good luck to you, it will be fine.

I know I was a colicky baby, and wound up being a very pleasant, smiling, outgoing youngster. I was never very whiny, demanding, obstinate, nor clingy, except those first few months as a baby. Oh, I did torture my mother with not sleeping through the night until I was 18 months old. After that I slept like the dead.

Thanks all! Yes I’m hearing a lot about taking a break and let the episode play out while gathering my focus back together.

If you are open to the idea of “attachment parenting”, I recommend The Fussy Baby Book by Dr. William Sears. Of course you don’t have to take all of his advice, but I found it very comforting and a great resource.

@WillWorkForChocolate I vividly remember having to put that baby in his bed, walk out, and pull myself together. @_Whitetigress stepping away for a few minutes to regroup is a must. Make sure the baby is in a safe spot and walk away then just breath for a couple of minutes.

My son was very high-strung and not a good sleeper. He didn’t like to nap or lounge around as a baby or toddler and was often grumpy.

He became an intelligent, clever, original, creative and funny adult…who was very high-strung and a bad sleeper who was often grumpy.

My second son was incredibly fussy, couldn’t amuse himself at all(also briefly colicky, but not bad, thank goodness). He wanted mommy, and only mommy to hold him at all times while he was awake. And he wanted to suck on something, but not a pacifier… only my pinky finger! I believe he was bored; as soon as he was capable of getting himself around, his personality changed to a fun, happy-go-lucky little boy. He just wanted to DO stuff!!! And he grew into a wonderful, funny, intelligent and caring man.

@gailcalled now that you mention it, my oldest is still high strung and can be rather grumpy.

My first son was fussy as a baby. He didnt want anything and he was entirely too picky for a baby. I couldn’t get in the groove of him, some days he liked one thing and other days he did not. But he was walking by eight months and running by ten months and is now exceptionally independent. Now at Three he doesnt like people to do anything for him, Though he still has quite the attitude its nothing that time, maturity and the right enviornment can’t fix.