At my wit's end (tantrums)

[annapunkalunka]

No advice, but we're in the same place as you. Some days are better than others. I struggle to not give in. It's just so much easier to give her what she wants. I don't have the energy to fight with her. It's exhausting. But I have hope that it'll get better. Hugs mama,
I'm right there with you!

[Courtniko]

I have no advice, but we are there with you. It is the age. They get so very frustrated for so many reasons, and they don't know how else to deal with their emotions.
We do some of the Happiest Todler stuff. Acknowledging her feeling definitely diffuses her tantrums some

[swim]

I can commiserate.
DD has been a challenge lately and I've lost my cool a few times because of it.

She was sick for the last week so spent a lot of that week whining and screaming. Now she seems to be in the habit of screaming, hitting and kicking. It's not fun.

[peachesncream]

I was anti time-out for a while but it has been a tantrum lifesaver. We sit her in a chair (not facing the wall or anything, just a chair in the living room) and ask her to be quiet. She can see us and interact with us. That cool down time makes a world of difference.

[Deleted]

I'm there with you. We have good days and bad, and on the bad days I wish I could drink wine out of a camel back. M throws full body tantrums, so I just make sure she's not going to hurt herself and then just ignore until she calms down.

Hang in there.

[starrynight14]

This is my life with LO. We also do Happiest Toddler techniques which helps sometimes, which is better than nothing. We did the techniques with DS1 too and it worked really well. So I'm going to try and stay consistent. It sure can be exhausting though!

[starrynight14]

May 18, 2016 13:52:25 GMT -5 @bazi45 said:

I'm there with you. We have good days and bad, and on the bad days I wish I could drink wine out of a camel back. M throws full body tantrums, so I just make sure she's not going to hurt herself and then just ignore until she calms down.

Hang in there.

You and me both! Lol

[annbuhdan]

I have been struggling this week too. Seems like the tantrums have ramped up lately. Sometimes I feel so frustrated after the frenzy of work, picking her up, battling traffic home, and dealing with her while making dinner that I have to honestly force myself to remember that she's my beautiful little girl and she can't help her feelings yet. I try to slow down and notice all the good things to balance out tantrums once in a while. Makes me sad too!

[vk]

I have no advice because we are in the same boat. It is hit or miss with everything lately. Big hugs.

[gratefulgirl]

Right now DD2 is only in the short tantrum phase, but DD1 did the really long crying thing for a very long while. DD1 is also still a mama's girl at 4, unlike DD2. We tried a whole slew of things. Time ins (where I cuddled her and mostly just let her cry), trying to talk through it, and calm down time outs. For her calm down time outs, which aren't a punishment but rather time alone to work through your tantrum, were the ticket. They often still are. We'll give her a comfort item and time. She's an introvert, so looking back it makes sense that she wanted some space to relax.

I have no advice on the mommy preference thing. I wish I knew how to balance that. Most kids switch back and forth every few months. DD1 never does, but it will likely happy for you.

Each kid is so different. I've had a lot of success with looking into a ton of different techniques and just experimenting. Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood is another good place to look for ideas. Most of all I've found the techniques that keep me calm (not an easy task) work the best. It's about 85% how I react and only about 15% what tactic I use.

[gratefulgirl]

May 19, 2016 13:23:03 GMT -5 eameselephant said:

May 19, 2016 8:05:08 GMT -5 gratefulgirl said:

Right now DD2 is only in the short tantrum phase, but DD1 did the really long crying thing for a very long while. DD1 is also still a mama's girl at 4, unlike DD2. We tried a whole slew of things. Time ins (where I cuddled her and mostly just let her cry), trying to talk through it, and calm down time outs. For her calm down time outs, which aren't a punishment but rather time alone to work through your tantrum, were the ticket. They often still are. We'll give her a comfort item and time. She's an introvert, so looking back it makes sense that she wanted some space to relax.

I have no advice on the mommy preference thing. I wish I knew how to balance that. Most kids switch back and forth every few months. DD1 never does, but it will likely happy for you.

Each kid is so different. I've had a lot of success with looking into a ton of different techniques and just experimenting. Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood is another good place to look for ideas. Most of all I've found the techniques that keep me calm (not an easy task) work the best. It's about 85% how I react and only about 15% what tactic I use.

Thanks. At what age did you start implementing the calm down time outs?

2.5, which is when I reached my wits end with hour long screaming as I was attempting time-ins. It started with me leaving her in her kitchen booster seat, strapped in, away from anything that could hurt her including food. It was one of those "step away before you get mad at your kid" things at first. Then I realized within 5 minutes she would stop screaming versus her just going on and on when I was trying to comfort her

[swim]

Oh. my. god. The. screaming.

We went to the zoo today. I was tempted to just leave her with the wolves.

[bobloblaw]

Hang in there because we're all going through it. The newborn will adjust to life with a noisy toddler. That's going to be their norm.

I can tell you, I've noticed a big difference when LO gets enough sleep and for us, it doesn't mean sleeping in, it means putting him down earlier. lately, he's needed over 12 hours of sleep a night AND a good nap. It sucks because I miss the time with him and H BUT they are at such a big developmental stage that I think some kids (like mine) need a lot more sleep to handle it.