What is an "easy" baby?

[robinator]

he slept through from 8pm till 8am every night, plus 4-6 hours naps (in total) during the day.

Jealousssss.........

We do 700p - 530a, with one 2-hour nap.

 

[hubblybubbly]

To me an easy baby would be one that settles easily, sleeps 6+ hours a night straight in her cot, naps in a cot and self settles for this, and is generally content to sit and play alone for more than 10 minutes at a time, and doesn't scream if you leave the room/sit up on the sofa where she can't reach you/put clothes on her/put her in the car etc etc.

Willow does none of these....I would say she is high maintenance!

 

[Pielette]

I think my LO is an easy baby. He's generally chilled out and happy, loves playing on his own and has always been happy to watch me do housework. He likes to be near me and has his phases where he just wants to be held but it's manageable.

He eats and sleeps really well. He absolutely loves his food and will try anything. He's slept through the night consistently 7pm until 7am since about 6 months and overnight I don't hear a peep!

Naturally this time I fear we have bred a devil child

 

[robinator]

Naturally this time I fear we have bred a devil child

I have the exact same worry if there is a number two

 

[Pielette]

Naturally this time I fear we have bred a devil child

I have the exact same worry if there is a number two

I have to face it, I've got it coming!

 

[hubblybubbly]

See I'm hoping this time I've bred one like you've got!

 

[Pielette]

See I'm hoping this time I've bred one like you've got!

You've definitely earned it!

 

[fannyadams]

Maybe you wouldn't realise how 'easy' a baby is until you have one that is less easy.

I think this is often true! Everyone I know has had 'challenging' 2nd children and we have all said we didn't know how good we had it with our firsts.
We joke that if they made 1st children like our seconds people would only ever have one and the population would halve each generation. It's therefore natures way of trying to keep the population level.

Clearly some have difficult firsts though and some have 2 or more 'easy' ones do that's my theory blown to pieces! X

 

[youngwife20]

Lane sttn from 6 weeks. She isn't overly clingy. She was never colicky, never had reflux. Doesn't have meltdowns.

However, she will NOT let me leave her in church nursery. She has NEVER been happy stationary: I would look with jealous longing at other babies who were just chilling in their carseat. We also had to always be on the move - I couldn't just sit in a chair or glider with her; oh, no. Up and walking or I'd hear about it.

Even now, she would rather be finger walking instead of sitting happily and playing (my poor back!). But yet she is so fun, and loving, and silly and clever.....I love her!

How do you define an easy baby? Is a baby easy if they do the things you want them to do? Are they difficult if they don't do what you want them to?

I'm curious how you define it, because we all probably have different ideas of what an "easy" baby is.

My daughter is easy in the sence:
Shes always happy and hardly ever crys.
shes always laughing.
and has had no issues
she DID NOT sleep through consistantly till 6 or 7 months. but now she sleeps 8pm-8am and naps for 2 hours once or twice a day
and she didnt latch and i pumped for her for 6 months
She also does not sit still EVER . she was crawling at 5 almost 6 months
pulling up to furniture at 6 months.
cruising at late 6 months
and now she wants u to hold one hand while she walks along.

When people see her they say " omg you must be exuasted" because im constantly pulling her back from climbing up things.

but id say overall
because she doesnt cry that much and only has a few clingy momments id say she is an easy baby . BUT exausting now that im getting more pregnant lol so i have found her harder work but thats more due to me being tired and pregannt than her being any different than shes always beenn.

i think a hard baby for me personaly would be a baby with lots of issues and stuff. xx


I was told if you have a difficult/truamtic delivery then that sets uyou up for a fail and you end up having a dificult baby. i dont believe that to be true because my labour was awful and a mess! lol daughter ended up in nicu for a week nill by mouth with a lung infection etc and she has been perfect ever since!

 

[aliss]

It's not just a person's perception. There really is a difference, I have to say. No matter your ability to "endure" certain challenges, nobody can sit there and tell me it's "easy" when a baby cries 20 hours a day, goes easily 16 hours without sleeping straight, or vomits full bottles of formula. Your anxiety and stress levels will skyrocket.

^That was my first!

I have an "easy" baby now. He only cries when tired, hungry, or has gas pains. He doesn't even cry much when hungry because he makes it easy to tell by rooting quite obviously for a good 10+ minutes. He feeds, goes right back to sleep. He sits in a bouncer and will easily stare for the entire hour he is awake. He sleeps 16-20 hours a day, without fight. He latched on immediately after birth and has never had a problem feeding. He has never vomited! Imagine that, after having a reflux baby for 14 months.

... I asked family what was wrong with him, was he "slow" or something, and they laughed because I didn't know what a baby could be like...

He feeds every 2 hours (24/7), I suppose some may consider that "difficult" to nurse every 2 hours at night (on my side half asleep while he passes out right away after).

But I have been to baby hell.... So I thank my lucky stars.

 

[aliss]

Which I suppose is why I find having a toddler a million times easier than a colicky reflux baby!

A toddler and newborn "easy" baby still a million times easier than colicky reflux baby!

 

[XJessicaX]

DD1 was OK as a newborn (had gas issues) but from 3/4 months was a really easy baby. STTN 13/14 hours, we had no separation anxiety, she played independently for hours, disliked being held and would demand to be put down! early with all her milestones, never ill, never suffered teething pain, fiercely independent, didn't cry much and generally was a happy little soul! She is an easy toddler too. Bit of a stroppy madam but only because she is incredibly intelligent and gets frustrated sometimes.

 

[MrsM17]

I too after my horrendous experience hope that no.2 is an angel baby I just don't want all the issues at the start x

 

[rjm09]

We were always told that boys are harder, yet my boy I would say was an easy baby.We also thought because he was pretty easy that this little girl wold be a complete opposite. Well at 9 wks she's already following exactly like her brother did! sttn at 5 wks, and 10 hr averages now. eats well, can settle, is happy just in her bouncer chair while i do things in the house, no problems going out for hours, no fussing in stores.Doesn't miss the binky his family members kept trying to push on her.

We know we are very lucky, although their not perfect..there have been times where I wanted to pull my hair out! I've seen other friends kids who are just terrible! I couldn't handle them!

 

[Starstryder]

For me it is in comparison to my son lol. He was a preemie, had colic, reflux, sleep issues, eczema, allergies etc. Wow, reading that I am amazed we made it through the first year...

My wee girl on the other hand is the chalk to his cheese rofl. She was on time, has no colic, hasn't thrown up yet, sleeps like an angel and *touch wood* no allergies or eczema so far.

 

[bananaz]

This is kind of a tangent, but something that really bothers me is when people use the words "easy" and "good" interchangeably. I see a lot of posts along the lines of "Oh, my LO sleeps 23 hours a day and she never cries or has a dirty diaper. She's such a good baby!" Because apparently a baby being upset or needy makes them "bad"?

I mean, my kid is definitely not an easy baby - between her reflux, eczema, food allergies and just being a "high needs" individual she screamed almost nonstop the first four months of her life and even now at 7 months old she still spends half her day in some stage of meltdown. But I still think she's a good baby. She's incredibly smart and funny and social, and just because I can't set her down to entertain herself for hours at a time or she doesn't sleep through the night shouldn't make her "bad." Anyway, just a little pet peeve of mine

 

[aliss]

Ohh totally agree!! My son was not a "BAD" baby, he had a terrible digestive system and just need a lot more support!!

 

[libbylou]

I'd define an easy baby as one that doesn't require you to bust your ass 24/7 to keep them from crying and to make sure they get a decent sleep and one that doesn't make you want to run screaming from the house

My LO is high needs and cries over just about everything. She gets overtired, overstimulated, bored, frustrated, and is generally fussy most of the time.
She's also very mobile and at 8 months I'm already chasing her around and keeping her out of stuff (which I'm ok with because when she's motoring around she's generally happy unless she's getting into something that she's not allowed to have and then she screams at me for not letting her)
She also needs to be held, a lot, and usually by me. And usually needs me to be moving (walking or bouncing) while I'm holding her
She's a crap sleeper and I spend a good portion of my day and night making sure she's napping and getting a decent sleep at night.

That said, I still don't consider her a "bad" baby. Babies don't know how to be "bad". She's just a high needs girl who is very curious and active.

 

[wifey29]

I will explain why I think me son is NOT an easy baby.

Didn't stop crying from the moment he was born (no lie) until 12 weeks when he was diagnosed with cmpi. He was that bad in hospital the nurses called a doctor down at 5 am to check him as he did not stop crying. This continued when we got home. He would sleep approx 4 hrs in a 24 hr period from exhaustion.
Couldn't leave the house, go for walks or anything it was torture.
He was admitted to hospital at 12 weeks as he was so bad.
Severe eczema, so bad he needed bandage wraps (due to cmpi)
He chilled for a bit having finally been diagnosed. Slept sort of well and fed well. Took to weaning well. Plauged by 5am screaming session wake ups from here on though and he still never sleeps past 5.30/6am.
Napped for no longer than 30 mins at a time 3x a day so could NEVER get anything done.
Started teething - up all night constant screaming got 6 teeth in 8 weeks.
Was ill constantly for 3 months, had 2 ear infections, continuous cold, terrible cough, hand foot & mouth, D & V bug.
Started to refuse to eat and refuse formula.This continued for 2 months. Again back and forth to docs/hospital. Lost weight.
Started to eat again but still refused formula (huge prob if your baby is cmpi!!)
Started to paddy and throw strops, can't take him out shopping, wont sit in his pushchair, screams to get out.
Still doesn't sleep through.
Now started to take formula again 3 months later

Having said all this my son under all those issues is such a happy, smilely baby and I love him so so much.

Anything other than this would be an easy baby to me haha!!!! x

Could have written this myself, not the illnesses part, but the cmpi, food refusal, general grumpiness when we go anywhere and not napping is my son exactly. He's bloody hard work! My cousin and SIL's babies seem so easy and relaxed to me and at times I'll admit I feel a little envious. I have been running on fumes for the last six months, despite him sleeping well. That said I love him to bits and wouldn't change him for the world.

 

[jenniferttc1]

My baby is a really easy baby (except today, with the flu....and its like the "man flu" +baby flu in one, it's MISERABLE!) He was actually a pretty hard newborn. I couldn't sit him down for 6 months, he cried all day and night long. I had to bedshare cause he would not sleep more than 30 mins by himself and it took a good hour to get him to actually sleep 30 mins. But now he's able to sit, crawl and walk alone he's so easy! He sleeps in his crib now, not STTN, but only wakes twice for a quick bottle and passes right out so I'm pleased! He happily plays alone, hardly cries, does great in the car and stores most of the time. I do wished he would let me cuddle him, there is not sitting down or laying in bed and relaxing, it's all jumps and giggles.