For those of you with boys AND girls...

[~Candy~]

My boys are sookier than my girls...but my girls are very headstrong.

In MY house...boys are easier than girls

[sockstealingpoltergeist]

Neither, it's a personality thing, and any child can be anything.

[justmum]

9 months straight of waking up seriously 10 times every night, then the tantrums and head banging and wrecking my house began. He is also clingy to the point of me having to carry him everywhere or he goes nuts.

Sounds excatly like my DS, until he had his grommets put in and had nasal spray to shrink his adenoids and tonsils Have you had his ears, adenoids and tonsils checked? (I am sure you have, just wondering....)

Hard to tell here as DD is only 7 months old, but so far she is very easy.

BUT I don't think gender is the only reason for this. I think it also has to do, not only with personality, but position in the family and parenting philosophy.

I have raised DD with a much more AP approach than I did DS and she is showing the benefits. She is already a more content and settled little child.

The old adage of spare the rod, spoil the child is clearly a load of old bunkum in this household.

Then again my DS had such chronic ear problems until this week with his glue ear and enlarged tonsils and adenoids, that it is very difficult to get a proper picture of who he *is*. Early signs after his grommets and steroid nasal spray to shrink his adenoids and tonsils are very promising.

[delirium]

Ironically Justmum, he is just recovering from a massive ear infection. I read up on grommets and glue ear, but his hearing is fine. Is there any other symptoms?

[justmum]

Doesn't always effect hearing or you think it doesn't. Sometimes they only lose some tones/sounds.

Symptoms of ear, adenoid, tonsil problems (in my experience):

* poor sleep with frequent wake ups often with sudden loud screaming upon waking that is hard to calm; refusing to g tto sleep or nap
* excessive whinging, whining and wanting to be carried, clingyness
* poor balance, frequent falls
* poor impulse control, excessive tantrums, violence against other children/parents, general angry and violent behaviour
* destructive behaviour - throwing, ripping
* inability to eat/aversion to chewy foods esp meat, favouring purees, soft and mushy foods
* appears to have a good understanding of language but not many words, or dropping the beginning or end sounds off words
* bad teether (we call our DS a hystrionic teether)
* general unhappiness - not smiling as much

It's hard to pick because a lot of it is just being 2. And a lot of this stuff the doctors just don't acknowledge or care about. But this stuff makes life hell for the child and the family unit.

I ended up by-passing our GP (GPs know nothing about ears sorry, they don't have the equipment) and self referring to an audiologist who did hearing tests, a timpanogram and took photos of my sons ear drums and beyond. It was that way we discovered his glue ear and Eustacian tube disfunction that the GP had dismissed as "It's nothing, his ears look a little dull but not infected or bad. He's fine"

[delirium]

Oh dear, that's my child you are describing, minus the balance issues. I really think we need to see someone. I'm feeling sick to the stomach that all of his behavioural issues may stem from his ears, and always being in pain I feel like such a crappy mother.

[2girls&1boy]

I have one very easy girl, one very challenging girl & a very boisterous boy so the jury is still out here