Tantrums at 21 months

tobyt2000 · Mar 4, 2009 4:48AM

Please help, I'm tearing my hair out. My placid, loveable daughter has turned into a mad beastie!!! Over the last three weeks she has developed a desire to paddy and tantrum at any given opportunity, she is becoming a right nightmare!!!!

I've done the whole diversionary tactiv where I try to get to forget her tantrum which worked for a couple of days but now nothing seems to work and I find I'm pussyfooting around her to avoid a confrontation. AAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH.....

What does everyone else do? Have your children turned into mini teenagers too or just mine?

HELP!

Charlotte
x

$:\$ ?

nessellis · Feb 21, 2009 7:16PM

Welcome to the tantrum club. My lo started at 19mnths and is still going. Diversion works well if you catch it early enough. To be honest I find the best thing to do is ignore them. Make sure they are safely on the floor and just say 'I'll be over here doing some thing interesting when you're ready'. Then go and start colouring or flicking through a favorite book, anything that they enjoy. It's amazing how quickly they recover if they think they're missing out. My biggest bit of advice is if they are paddying because you're making them do something they don't want to e.g. get dressed don't let them get away with it. Once they are calm go back to doing whatever it was you need them to do. They can't learn that paddying will get them somewhere... they have to realise it's just a huge waste of time. My lo is by no means perfect but he is better and you can see him think twice about it. Hope this helps and remember... STAY CALM.

hayley_l · Feb 22, 2009 11:54AM

Isaac is a maniac sometimes, he was always such a placid laid back baby, but now he can have the most explosive tantrums, screaming shouting hitting etc, to be honest I probably dont help matters because I cant help but laugh at him, mostly though I just try to ignore him.

tobyt2000 · Feb 23, 2009 4:59PM

Thanks ladies, it is good to know that I'm not alone, it is becoming a battle of wits though! I want my little spud back! x

maxnjacksmummy · Feb 23, 2009 6:15PM

Well at least they waited till 21 months!

My lo is 14 months and has been having tantrums like these since just before he was 1!!!!!!! When will it end :roll: !

linzimc88 · Feb 24, 2009 7:37AM

ahh yes that sounds familiar! crafty evie too has been tantruming since before 1year. She will throw herself backwards and fall onto the floor on her back which must hurt! Then she'll scream/kick or what have you. I always try to help her down gently ie, catch her if i see her do it, lay her down and just walk away. i say "mummy going to play over here when you're quite finished you can join in" and when she realises she's not getting attention she stop and comes over for a cuddle!

KerryBerry · Mar 4, 2009 4:48AM

My lo has been 'tantruming' since about 1yr, starting with mild head-banging up to (now at 18 months) mini tantrums and back-arching/head banging. As a bit of advice to Tobyt2000 (and of course everybody is different), pussyfooting around your lo to avoid confrontation will possibly make matters much worse. Instead of looking at it as confrontation, look at it as protecting your lo's future. Ignoring tantrums really does seem to be the best way to deal with them, and it's a very controlled way of doing it as once you've checked that she's safe to throw herself around, you can walk away, sit, turn your face away and as mentioned before, read books or play with her toys. Obviously you have to put up with the noises she's making... unless you have an ipod

This morning I took my lo's breakfast away because he had a tantrum when I tried to feed him the last few floating cheerios and difficult milk at the end. I put him on the floor to tantrum put his cereal in the fridge, then had to forcefully dress him mid-tantrum to take his daddy to work. When we got home (about 25 minutes after the cereal incident) I got the cereal back out of the fridge, explained that I would feed him the rest to which he smiled and nodded his head in the style of a Tombliboo.

Keep the faith. It will pay off. xx

Tantrums at 21 months

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