Tantrums and Baby Behaviour (by sarah)
Jean has mostly been lovely with Mary, happily sitting cuddling the baby and being concerned when she cries. This is unless people announce they are here to see the baby (rather than Jean and the baby) or people have been hugging the baby too much (in Jean's opinion). The baby is very much Jean's so there is a two fold jelousy which we hadn't expected - as in Jean is jelous of the baby getting attention but also of the fact that the baby is with people other than her (mummy and daddy don't seem to count in this which is a relief as it means we can hug and look after the baby with no screaming ab-dabs).
The absolute worse case is my Mum holding the baby for too long - Jean starts trying to prize the baby off of Nanny and the more she is told to leave the baby alone the worse it gets. But next comes other people visiting who want to talk to mummy and or hold the baby - this results in Jean saying that she doesn't like said people or that Mary doesn't like them and that the people should go away. Generally this all calms down but yesterday it resulted in a trantrum and her sitting her room shouting and crying until she went to sleep (which was a relief in itself as she has been getting up early and going to sleep late since the baby was born as she wants to see the baby and play etc.. this has been exhorsting).
I feel really embarrassed when she does this but at the same time it is no where near as bad as we were expecting! The help booklet the NHS says that sometimes the older child does not initially love the baby - normally they love the baby even if they don't always like it but you can't assume this will be the case. Jean loves Mary very much and has from the word go.
But Jeany has been wanting more cuddles, Daddy to carry her up the stairs and in from the car, help getting dressed and wanting to pretend to be burped. This is known as Baby Behaviour - Jean is the mild end of the spectrum with some kids wetting themselves :/
Jean needs to feel looked after too and all those things the baby is getting done for her Jean wants done too. The books say to not say no to this behaviour continously. I think Jeany's mainly doing ok with this whole little sister thing and the main issue has been people taking up my time or me trying to sleep and not doing the Mary, Jean, Mummy time - Jean gets furious if this happens and starts trying to shove the reading books or films into my hands as I'm trying to talk to people 🙁
It has been particually intense this week as it is half term and people are visiting nearly everyday.
Uncategorised | sarah | 
Thu 24th Feb 2011 2:16 pm
Subscribe