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Major tantrums and my 4 (almost 5) year old daughter
Basically I have a 4 year old daughter who is creative, expressive and
happy most of the time. Her teachers have nothing but praise for her and she truly is one of the sweetest children I know. However, lately (the last 3 months) she has begun having major tantrums. The last one was enough to make my wife start crying because our daughter was so out of control. My wife and I have been doing a lot of reading and most of the stuff out there says that tantrums are not uncommon for children this age. However, I have to admit, that at one point I began to wonder whether or not it is normal for a child to be so hysterical. I have been keeping tabs on things that might be possible triggers, i.e. tired, foods, words, activities, etc. but there doesn't seem to be a specific trigger except the most common circumstance which is tiredness. Basically the last tantrum unfolded on Sunday night after she had already gone to bed. She woke up around 11pm and came downstairs where my wife and I were watching TV. Because it had been a long day we decided to let her curl up on the couch with us, especially since she was still half asleep. However, she couldn't seem to get comfortable and coughed a few times as she began to whine and whimper. She began to get frustrated so we decided to take her upstairs and put her in bed with us. Keep in mind that she was not fully awake, but kind of in between. Once we got her upstairs she began to get more frustrated and began to roll around on the bed grunting, obviously unhappy. Within 5 minutes she was crying and beginning to scream. We tried talking to her and asking her what was wrong but that just seemed to enrage her more. She began kicking and pulling at everything, the blanket, her nightgown, us, etc. After 10 minutes she was screaming at the top of her lungs, her eyes open and red, her veins bulging as she yelled at my wife, "I don't want you mommy" and then screaming at me to pick her up. There was no real communication from her. It seemed that once she was past a certain point, there was no communicating with her. I resolved to stay calm and be present with her as she worked her way through this tantrum. My wife on the other hand was so terrified by this behavior that she began to sob because she felt helpless. Hugging our daughter only caused her to throw her body around and scream louder. Finally after 20 minutes of screaming and flailing, I managed to decipher that our daughter was thirsty, but every time I offered her water, she screamed louder. There was no way I could get water into her mouth with her so upset. Then I had an idea and asked if she wanted a straw, which she seemed to say yes to. This was the beginning of her calming down as eventually she began to drink some water. By the end, some 30 minutes after it began, she was talking to us with a hoarse voice, sweating and still red from all the screaming. She was making jokes and being silly? This was by far, the worst tantrum that she has ever had. It scared my wife and despite my calm nature, it scared me to! Does anyone have any similar experiences? Solutions? Suggestions? Thanks, Ariel |
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Major tantrums and my 4 (almost 5) year old daughter
wrote in message ups.com... Does anyone have any similar experiences? Solutions? Suggestions? Sounds more like a night terror than a tantrum. http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/sleep...ht_terrors.htm My daughter had night terrors on a regular basis for a couple of years. They are scary for you, but she probably won't even remember them. |
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Major tantrums and my 4 (almost 5) year old daughter
"Tracey" wrote in message m... wrote in message ups.com... Does anyone have any similar experiences? Solutions? Suggestions? Sounds more like a night terror than a tantrum. http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/sleep...ht_terrors.htm My daughter had night terrors on a regular basis for a couple of years. They are scary for you, but she probably won't even remember them. Could be. Does the OP's daughter have these during the day or only after she goes to sleep? Jeff |
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Major tantrums and my 4 (almost 5) year old daughter
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#5
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Major tantrums and my 4 (almost 5) year old daughter
This sounds like night terrors to me too. My son had some on and off,
in similar situations where he woke up shortly after going to bed or was woken from sleep (say fell asleep on plane and had to leave plane when we arrived). It was indeed very scary as he seemed to be very upset, flailed around a lot and even yelled but didn't seem to acknowledge us and our efforts to calm him down. We thought it seemed to happen more on nights when he was overtired - eg had a long day, no nap (at the time) etc. Basically we tried to make sure he was going to bed on time, getting enough rest etc. and then when it happened we tried to stay calm, make sure he didn't hurt himself by flailing around too much and comfort him if he "woke" up. Good luck! |
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