Spirited or not? Where do I start?

[Fxguy]

     Hello everyone! We are parents of 4.5 month old Brian. Our names are Tim and Maureen and we are desperately seeking some support / advice to help us with Brian. After 5 years of trying to conceive we had started the adoption process and were in the middle of our home study when we found out that Brian was on his way. We were so thankful to God to have him.

     Since we are first time parents and both professionally educated (I as a pharmacist and her as a nurse) we did the only logical thing and read every book we could about raising an infant. Little did we know that Brian wasn't going to follow any book we've ever read. After stumbling upon the forum here and reading the spirited baby quiz I believe he falls into the spirited personality.

My question is can they be spirited one day and fine the next? For example, yesterday there was almost no consoling him! Kept his diapers changed, tried the bottle which he kept refusing, and he just fussed all day! At the end of the day we gave up and tried some solid foods (which we introduced a week ago) and he ate almost a whole container of peas and carrots and still wouldn't take the bottle. Today he is quiet and playing and hardly fussed at all.

Can someone please help and point us in the right direction for some support and resources?

Thanks!
Tim, Maureen and Brian

[michaeljacknnugg]

It's totally possible to be spirited and calm! My guy is spirited but given that we've learned over the years to cope with the challenges of having a spirited one he doesn't seem a challenge at all. In fact most of the time he's a complete joy!

There is lots of support. On this forum you will find a support thread for spirited children, and if you haven't found it yet, I'd recommend reading 'Raising Your Spirited Child'. Total godsend, and a lot of parents on here swear by it.

Enjoy your little man! Spirited children do very well with routine, so that's a good place to start at his age.

[michaeljacknnugg]

Oh, and at his age, have you considered teeth as the cause of the fussy day? We started with teeth at roughly that point. Just getting his six year molars now - easiest teeth ever!!

[Fxguy]

MJ&N -

We have considered the possibility of teething, but this has been going on since probably 6 weeks old when we first noticed things. Also we thought he might be teething early since he has started drooling, but he doesn't care for any teething things to gnaw on and we don't feel any teeth cutting through at the moment.

Tim