What am I doing wrong

[Courts21]

I'm not sure this is the right place to put this, move it if need be but...my little man is 7 months old, is crawling, pulling himself up and whines and cries all day long.  Since he has been crawling he has turned into a major whiner.  He used to play by himself quite happily but now he isn't even happy one minute by himself.  He's crawling after me, whining at my feet, crying if I put him down. Has his hands up to be picked up all the time.  When I sit on the floor to play with him he is trying to crawl into my lap.  He won't play with me at all he just wants to crawl into my lap.  I can't cope with the whining anymore.  I don't know how to play with him or interact with him to make him happy.  He's 7 months old and he's not happy.  At first I thought that his whining was just over stimulation, you know novelty of crawling and being able to get to everything and he was just getting overtired but now I don't know. Maybe it's separation anxiety, I don't know.  When he's with other people or we are visiting, he's a very happy child, no one believes me that he is such a whiner.  But when its just him and me all he does is whine.  I can't deal with it anymore.  I don't know what to do with him.  I love my child, and as much as it hurts to say this, right now I don't like him very much.  I find myself counting down the minutes to nap time so I don't have to deal with it anymore.  I can't do any housework cos if he's not in my arms he's whining.  How can I help him play happily again?  Is it normal for a baby to fuss every moment he's awake?  What do I need to do, to make playtime less stressful?  We've finally got his sleep sorted out, now I wanted to enjoy my baby, but he won't let me. It breaks my heart to have him so upset so much of the time. I feel like a terrible mother. I can't even keep my 7 month old happy, how is it going to be once he is a teenager.

[rinajack]

Have you ruled out teething pain? Does your lo have any teeth yet? What if you play outside?

Do you have a sling? Can you carry your lo while you get some things done?

[Courts21]

No he hasn't got teeth yet, he certainly drools and chomps a lot but he's done that for months.  I can't see any other signs teeth coming through, not that he lets me have a proper look at his gums.  It could be teething pains I suppose, I don't know.  I wish I could play with him outside there is just nowhere to play.  We live in a tiny 2 bedroom unit.  And he won't sit still in a sling, and he's too heavy for me to carry around like that now anyway.  It's not so much the he won't let me do anything all day that bothers me, its that he's not happy all day full stop.  He doesn't want to play, he just whines.   

[rinajack]

Sometimes the only way to rule out teething pain is to give teething meds - I liked using Hylands Teething tablets for my DD, but a quick way to check would be to see if your lo is happier after some paracetemol.

What is your routine, we should also check that your lo is no overtired or anything.....

[Courts21]

Hi routine is -

7am - wake and bottle (the last two mornings he has been really restless from about 5am)
8am - breakfast
9am - nap 1.5 -2hrs
11am - bottle
12pm - lunch
1:30 - 2pm depending on when he gets up from his morning nap depends when he goes down here) 1.5 - 2hrs
4pm - bottle
5pm - dinner
7pm - bath, story, bottle, bed. (generally asleep by 7:30pm - 7:45pm)

He seems to really struggle with his A times, like he is really tired and just wants to nap but he's having the right amount of sleep for his age.  I don't know.  If I give him more sleep during the day he's not less grumpy or whiny, but then he doesn't sleep at night.

[rinajack]

Your routine looks excellent!

My guess is that the next thing you should do is rule out the teething....let me know how it goes.