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Baby rejects mom

 
 
Reply Tue 8 Mar, 2005 12:08 pm
I feel like my 6-month-old daughter is rejecting me. She seems to avoid eye contact with me-even when I call her name. She smiles readily at her dad, but not at me. She turns away from me a lot. When I try to rock her she turns away and wriggles. When I give her a supplemental bottle (I'm still nursing for the most part), she turns away. I've been reading some on feeding and attachment disorders. She spits up/vomits a lot. Should I be concerned?
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Type: Discussion • Score: 1 • Views: 5,678 • Replies: 10
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sozobe
 
  1  
Reply Tue 8 Mar, 2005 12:18 pm
Hmm, I seem to remember that this was a phase. I'll go look it up, see what I can find. (I have a 4 year old so this wasn't so long ago but I'm terrible at remembering this stuff!)

Quickly, though, I don't think you have anything to worry about, attachment-wise. If she's spitting up a lot she may have something medical going on, maybe worth seeing the doc for that just to rule anything out. Does she have any teeth yet?

How much time do you spend with her vs. how much time her dad spends with her?
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scottishmom
 
  1  
Reply Tue 8 Mar, 2005 12:32 pm
She doesn't have teeth yet, but should soon according to ped.

Have discussed spitting up with ped.-have her on soy formula as supplement to breast milk and am trying to limit my dairy intake.

I spend 5 days a week with baby, while dad is at work, so I spend much more time with baby.
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DrewDad
 
  1  
Reply Tue 8 Mar, 2005 12:59 pm
Have you suffered from depression?

You might consider getting evaluated; post-partum depression is common and modern treatments can help a great deal.
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boomerang
 
  1  
Reply Tue 8 Mar, 2005 02:32 pm
I've been reading up on attachment and bonding but mostly as it relates to adoption.

Still, it seems that most of these issues arise from some kind of trauma which doesn't really seem to be the case in your situation, scottishmom.

Let's see what soz finds out. She's a whiz at finding good information.

And welcome to A2K!
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sozobe
 
  1  
Reply Tue 8 Mar, 2005 04:00 pm
Why thankee. Haven't come up with a heckuva lot, though. It's a bit difficult to get a handle on in terms of searching online or in indexes (indices?)

What I remember is that there was a point around then when my daughter just was kinda bored with the same ol' same ol'. She'd brighten up at anything new -- her dad coming home from work, the mailman delivering the mail, and especially (once I figured it out) more frequent walks and outings.

Another general tidbit is that often kids/ babies often act grumpiest with the people they are most comfortable with and feel safest with. Nobody is happy all the time, not even babies.

Here's what I found specifically to dads:

Quote:


http://www.babycenter.com/expert/baby/babydevelopment/6820.html

Quote:
Baby Prefers Grandmother



I am wondering if something is wrong with my relationship with my baby. My daughter is 11 months old and is so attached to my mom, she cries for her and if my mom leaves she really cries. And my mom can really get her laughing, my daughter also gets real excited to see my mom, if my mom is around my daughter wants her. I think this is great and healthy. But I cannot get it out of my mind that I have bonded to my daughter, but my daughter has not bonded to me. We had a difficlt delivery and a long stressful time breastfeeding, I bf for 8.5 months. I wonder if that had anything to do with it? I took 8 months off work, and went back part time. I work 2 half days a week 5 hours each. My mom keeps her for me, and my mom lives a few houses down from me so we see each other all the time. For one I am concerned that I wont be close to my daughter as she grows up, and to be honest, my feelings are a little hurt. My daughter has NEVER cried for me when I leave, doesnt get real excited when I return, (oh she smiles and makes eye contact). But not like it is with my mom and daddy comes home. She doent want to be held at all, but that might be her age. I sing to her and play, we takes baths, I read to her, if i can get her to settle down for a min. These things dont come natrually to me, as my mom is a pro at them. But I guess I am fusterated cause none of these bonding things seem to be working, other moms I talk to ALL say thier babies at this age was so clingly and attached to THEM and NOT others as much. I might understand if my daughter at one time had been that way towards me, but she never has. that is why I am concerned. I am worried that she knows that I am her mother, loves me for taking care of her and that it..I want to be her best buddie, her favorite playmate, and someone who can make it all better. but I dont feel that connection, have I done something wrong? I will be honest. I have had a few bad days, maybe weeks with her, just trying to figure out how to be a mom, (i am a first time mom) I have never been arounds babies, and i am learning alot... I love my daughter to death, so if I have done something to hinder our relationship please tell me what i can do? and do you think my daughter feels a bond toward me AT all, how can I tell? I am so sorry for this long post, but thank you for taking the time with my question. I am just confused.

Thank You
Michelle

Dear Michelle,
Motherhood is a wonderful experience, but, like any worthwhile relationship, it isn't always emotionally easy. Nothing you have written makes me think you aren't a good parent or are doing anything "wrong". In fact, caring and trying and giving a child your time are ingredients for being a good mom. Your daughter is going through a normal phase in her emotional development that involves intense attachments. The fact that she is focussing that attachment on your mom isn't necessarily on reflection on your bond, which can also be a trusting and positive one. (I am generalizing a little here with this example, but think of all the traditional father figures who also felt connected to their small children, only to come home from work and see them only want mom!) Just because one caretaker seems to be prferred at this stage in a child's life, doesn't mean other relationships won't blossom as well. Don't let this phase undermine your confidence as a mother.
Still, I don't mean to downplay what you are feeling. Being a good parent means investing a lot of time and love and emotion and all of us want to feel that this is a two way street, not a one way one. Have you spoken about this with your mother? Being an experienced mother herself, she should understand what you are feeling and can perhaps help by giving you babysitting time when your daughter is asleep and letting you have the best part of your daughter's day. Or, perhaps by reserving an especially enjoyed activity just for you and your daughter alone. Another way for her to be sensitive to the issue is to not be around when you want time alone with your child, so the 'choice' is not there. Again, though, having strong positive attachments is a healthy stage in your daughter's development and one that doesn't mean the two of you won't enjoy a wonderful relationship as well.
Dr. Sadler


http://www.babyzone.com/features/expertsqa/default.asp?QAID=14895&ExpertID=8

Meanwhile, I'm not sure I get the supplemental bottle part... Are you not producing enough milk? How does she act when you are nursing? I'm wonder if that could be part of the picture, that she's annoyed/ confused at the nursing changes.

At any rate, I really wouldn't worry that it's anything pathological, as distressing as it probably is for you. I think the main thing for you to do is continue to be loving towards her, and do what you can to get the support you need so that your distress isn't broadcast to her and redouble whatever is going on, and eventually (hopefully sooner rather than later) it will pass.
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dlowan
 
  1  
Reply Tue 8 Mar, 2005 04:14 pm
Hi Scottishmum - can you tell us a little about the pregnancy with this babe - and how things have been for you over that time of the pregnancy, the birth, and up to now?
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scottishmom
 
  1  
Reply Wed 9 Mar, 2005 08:54 am
Thanks
Thanks to all of you for your supportive responses. I am feeling much better about this now. I also visited my ped. and he observed my interactions with my baby and thought things seemed great. I have also tried to pay attention to eye contact, etc. and have noticed plenty of it and smiles while I was alone with her over the past day. The ped. says that my husband is a novelty when we are all together and so her attention may shift to him, but that she seems to be interacting well with me and doesn't see a problem with attachment.

Thanks!
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sozobe
 
  1  
Reply Wed 9 Mar, 2005 09:01 am
Thats wonderful, scottishmom, thanks for the update. And welcome to A2K! Lots of parents here.
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Noddy24
 
  1  
Reply Wed 9 Mar, 2005 05:15 pm
My older son was a happy, cuddly baby with a magnificent digestive system. His brother was colicky, easily frustrated and equated cuddling with smothering.

Both were "normal"--whatever "normal" means.

At least you have the "challenging" child first.
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Krysia
 
  1  
Reply Thu 17 Mar, 2005 12:42 pm
I was going to suggest that maybe your husband coming home made her happy because she hadn't seen him all day, but then you updated. Wink

I do have a good word of advice, though. The 2nd article soz posted describes what happened with me, when I was a child. For various reasons, I attached to my paternal grandmother far more than I did to my mother as baby, after mom went back to school. My grandma stayed home to raise my dad and aunts, and she would stay home to babysit me when my parents were working. I spent many nights there because I really liked my grandparents' house a LOT! Wink I even ended up learning Spanish before English (I started talking at around 11-12 months, *really* late! But I'm a quiet person today, so.. Wink), which created a language barrier between my mom and me.

When I started to live at home more, I didn't like the new situation. I used to tell my grandma that I didn't love my mother, and I'd say that she (mom) wasn't my real mother. I understand this was very hurtful, but I was a toddler and didn't mean it. When my little sister came around, she became the apple of my mother's eye. She could do nothing wrong, but I was always criticized. Almost nothing was directed at me that wasn't spiteful. I clearly remember one day, I came home with a score of 104% on a test (I had gotten almost all the extra credit right but one) and my sister got an 83% on a test. My mother praised my sister's "great" score, but told me that I didn't do good enough. I got an A+ and my sister got a C! My sister would get prime care if she so much as had a a headache, but when I would be so ill that I'd pass out, I'd get yelled at over it.

I'm 23 and my sister is nearly 21, and this behavior hasn't changed. In fact, it's MORE obvious that my mother greatly favors my sister over me. She treats me as though I was a step child that she didn't particularly like but took care of out of duty to her husband. I know that this stems from the fact that she took it personally when I was a child, saying I didn't love mommy and I wanted grandma to be my real mommy. She never let my sister have a relationship with my grandmother, even!!

So, my advice is, of course, not to let these few months destroy the relationship between you and your child. Although it's been over 2 decades since my very strong grandma-preference, I'm still feeling the effects of it. Kids don't mean to be hurtful at that age; try not to take it all that personally. Smile
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