Wildly different personalities or a medical issue?

Ok here is the story. Mushka is a perfect baby. She's happy, content to be held or put down, never cries unless she's starving or exhausted, sleeps well, etc etc. Chana'le fusses all.the.time., needs to be held a lot or have constant attention, I find every time she's in a good mood I'm waiting for the shoe to drop and for her to start a screaming fit. She's a decent sleeper but will never sleep for more than four hours. She also has a major sensitivity to wheat, and I think also dairy. Since I've been back on dairy she's had a rash on her cheeks, and she also has had little eczema patches behind her ears for as long as I can remember. Which makes me suspect that there is some medical issue at play, not just a personality one. She's 5 months old and the fussiness just not getting better, so I'm going to my ped tomorrow to get a referral to a pediatric GI.

Anyone have any experience in this? Did you have one laidback twin and one twin who turned out to have medical issues that made him/her difficult? Or did you have two kids who just had two completely different personalities? Any advice about infants with food sensitivities? Neither my husband nor I have any experience with allergies/food issues so we're on totally new ground here and I'm kind of at a loss.
Thanks!

 

Liam was my laid back twin. I used to worry he was going to feel neglected. Because from about 2-3 months on, I'd feed them both, then plop him in the bouncy to deal with Rylee, who was much more needy at the time. Very fussy, had reflux and colic so every night was a scream fest from supper until about 10pm.

I was going to suggest getting her checked for reflux because that could be a big part of your problem, especially with the suspected allergies. If it is, reflux meds can work wonders!

But, it could just be their personalities too. I find that mine will switch roles every once in awhile. Because now, Rylee is only slightly shy, she's much more outgoing and will talk to anyone and give a small smile and a wave, lots of hugs and kisses to family. Liam, he's insanely shy. He hides behind us when we go out places, or buries his face in your neck if you are holding him. It takes him a good 20-30 mins to warm up in a new situation and once he's warmed up, he's fine again!

 

Nathaniel is my laid back baby, he slept his nights first, didn't mind sitting in the bouncer/swing. He was easily consoled, smiled easily etc. William was/is the complete opposite. Cried ALL.THE.TIME. There were days I thought was was loosing my mind. He also had a wheat and dairy issue, he has since outgrown it. He is the one with the worst eczema, asthma, allergies. He has numerous food allergies as well. He was also my sick one when they were first born. For William I think it is a combination of personality, he is my more serious one BY FAR and health issues.

 

My twins are like nights nd day. At that age and even now I feel bad because Ava is high maintenance and Addison just goes with the flow - there is NO flow with Ava. Ava is so much more demanding of our time. That being said, you know your child better than anyone and if you think it is more of a medical issue than personality I would have her checked. In my case Ava is actually my healthiest child but my biggest drama queen!

 

Yup, same as above posters. I have a laid back mellow one, and a very loud whiny high maintenance one. They were like this from day 1.

 

My high maintenance one was the one with reflux. /shrug

Although now, I'm not sure which one is the high maintenance one now. I think the other one is now.

 

I don't have a low maintenance kid :wacko:. But I do remember that I had one really fussy one until I cut out dairy and then he had a magic turnaround in his behaviour. It's worth a try! Eczema and rashes are both signs of potential food sensitivities so it wouldn't hurt to cut out the usual suspects; dairy, soy, wheat etc, in the meantime to see if that does the trick.

 

My twins are reasonably good-natured now that they are approaching 3 months, but DD has terrible reflux and it does make her fussier and needier than DS in general. Strangely, she is the better sleeper at night though!

My first DS had a dairy intolerance. Eczema on the cheeks and behind the knees were the main indicators, as well as a red ring around his anus and the forest green mucus poops with blood in them. The eczema completely cleared up after a week of being completely dairy free (including hidden sources) and would come back instantly if I slipped up even a little bit. After about 8 months, his sensitivity lessened and he outgrew it by about a year. ETA: Being completely dairy free did NOT help his reflux but he did completely outgrow it by 6 months.

If you feel you can handle a full diary elimination, it's worth trying. You will need to try it completely for a couple of weeks without any slipping up to know for sure if it will work as it can take a few works to see improvements.

 

Yeah, same story with us, Max was very laid back and happy and Vanessa is more of a drama queen, we were giving her way more attention at that time. They are a few weeks younger than your older daughter and now the difference isn't as obvious - they are both just as whiney at times , I think she inspires him . I hope the food allergy issue isn't too bad, I have no experience about that. Good luck!

 

I'm already completely off wheat, and I was off dairy for 4 months and I'm trying to convince myself to go off it again. The rash on her cheeks seems to have cleared up though. She is also sensitive to peanut butter, but so is my other twin. The ped gave me a trial prescription for zantac and I'm going to fill it on Monday, so we'll see what happens. Like you all said, maybe it's just a personality thing, but if it's a medical thing and I could somehow help, it would make both my and her life easier.

Just out of curiosity, is/was your high strung baby your Baby A? (or the one on the bottom if you had a c-section) My mom is convinced it's because Chana spent all those months squashed on the bottom that she has such a high-strung personality!

 

You'll have to watch the zantac, it's incredibly weight reliant so it she gains a little weight the zantac will need a dosage adjustment. Most parents have had to ask for something else, prevacid was the thing when I had my little ones on it. It's non-weight reliant so it's much better long term.

As for the highstrung baby A thing, nope, my baby A was my laid back little boy, and my baby B was my high maintenance relux/colic baby girl!

 

Well I wouldn't say wildly different, but definitely distinct. One is laid back, kinda does his own thing (as much as a 6 mos old can) and the other wants more attention--he was our fussy one. My boys only had the normal fussiness--no colic, food sensitivities, etc so far. I have a couple of friends however whose babies were just like you describe. One mom cut out several foods--nuts, eggs, dairy, and maybe wheat--all at one time and slowly tried to add foods back in to her diet. Cutting out the foods definitely helped. My other friend cut out dairy and said she noticed a big difference in her boy's fussiness--he has also been on Prevacid. You can have your baby's stool tested to see if blood is present--could be sign of an allergy.