Do some babies just always wake cranky?

[jessmum46]

I'm not going to ask for routine advice again....yet  ...but in everyone's experience do some LOs just always wake up grumpy no matter what?  Since he was 4 months or so I don't think B has woken happily from almost any nap at all . He always wakes with a yell in the mornings too and will shout a lot until we go to him.  Some mornings he is obviously OT and just can't sleep, others it doesn't seem like he is or should be OT yet will always cry.  It's making it hard to work out what he needs sleep-wise.....take this morning for example, he had (for him) a great night - an EW after 10h or so but then resettled for another hour and a half so 11.5h in all.  Then did a reasonable (I think) A time, slept a sound 1h20 yet woke furious   He's a mystery for sure....did/does anyone else's LO do this?  Does it get better?  Is it just chronic OT build-up so never feels fully rested?  Or personality??

[creations]

Have you done the baby quiz recently?
Maybe he is touchy or grumpy?
The BW "Know Your Baby Quiz"

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Yes! Lily always did this and Jack too. The only time he doesn't now is waking in the morning while he waits for the sun clock. Until we got a gro clock he woke grumpy every morning, and even now he still does sometimes. I ignore it tbh, and only pay attention to how nights are, as in whether we're getting nws or ews.

[lily_layne]

I think it's likely personality. Some adults are bears when they wake up so I would think there are LOs that are just the same. Will he happily play on his own when awake? Is it maybe just that he doesn't want to be on his own so wants your attention right away?

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Lol I am one of those adults, and DD1 & DD3 are the same.  They don't really hit any touchy points on the quiz and DD2 who did was always the chipper happy to be awake one and still is (as is DH!).

[jessmum46]

Thanks Creations I got more of a combo of spirited and textbook but he does seem like quite a sensitive little soul.

LLJ - that's the thing, he almost always has NWs or EWs which makes me think more OT....but I don't know. He's definitely been a challenge to work out sleep-wise!

Lily - he is quite a mummy's boy but as long as not really tired will play fairly happily alone once up for short periods of time. Never in bed though.

May just have to go with it if it's his personality I guess? But part of me still feels there's something I can fix.....pain in the you know where being a BW sometimes!

[LovelyLilyandJack]

May just have to go with it if it's his personality I guess? But part of me still feels there's something I can fix.....pain in the you know where being a BW sometimes!

Haha!  I sooo know that feeling!  It sounds like it's a personality thing to me.  Like I say, both of mine grew out of it, apart from at nap times.  Lily is still a grouch if she falls asleep in the car in the day.  And she's definitely not OT or anything else...

I think you know we had a lot of nws and ews at 9 months too.  Looking back they were almost certainly all UT, but I didn't know that at the time.   Jack was a puzzle, sleep-wise too.  It just turned out he was a long way from average, that's all.  Anyway, he's so much more predictable and easy to read now, so even for the trickiest LOs, it still gets easier in the end!

[creations]

May just have to go with it if it's his personality I guess? But part of me still feels there's something I can fix

Perhaps his mind is just really really active?
It's only in hindsight that I can understand why my DS had so many disturbed nights. He STTN from a few weeks old (as in 5 hrs from about 4 wks or something, not as in 12 hrs), then there was the reflux problems, but even that aside, he had disturbed sleep, anxiety dreams when he was older every single night, I mean every single night... and now that I see what he does/knows/asks it all makes sense, he was processing *everything* in his dreams.  You may not be able to 'fix' this but perhaps like me you will be able to look back and understand it.
Not much of a help to you in practical terms though, sorry.
Hugs x

[*Liz*]

YES - my DD was just horrid to wake and usually woke miserable  . No matter how long she slept.

DS used to be happy to sit and snuggle for a while, but DD pitched a fit more often than not  .

[athenasmom]

Yes, DS was always waking up screaming up until about 2 years old. I never understood why  so I just accepted it as being part of his personality. DD on the other hand wakes up happy unless OT and chats to herself in her crib for a long time before actually calling out to us. Definitely a much nicer way to wake up 

[katie80]

Yes, both my boys have been cranky wakers. We joke and say that G woke unhappy because he wished he could still be sleeping, while C wakes unhappy because he's mad he fell asleep in the first place. G grew out of it in the morning somewhere between 12-18mo (I've most often had to wake him from naps) and C is still going strong (naps and morning ). (((Hugs))), I think a lot of it is personality too.