Tantrums

My DD is having some godawful tantrums lately. But only when she wakes up, both in the morning and from her naps. I just don't know what to do. I have let her play in her crib for a while thinking she needs to wake up more, I have ignored the crying, I have given time outs for the crying and nothing has worked. It has been going on for like 3 weeks and I'm at my wits end.

How do you deal with your DC's tantrums? She is very speech delayed so she doesn't understand me reasoning with her and she can't tell me what is wrong so I am at a total loss.

Doesn't anyone have any tips or advice?

TIA

Re: Tantrums

DD has occasional tantrums. though they seem to be decreasing. A good part of it I think is caused by frustration because she can't say what she is feeling. She is speech delayed too. Her first spec. ed therapist would just end her sessions after 10 minutes of tarnruming so she never learnmed how to deal with them. We got a new therapist who works wonders. She made up a behavior plan for us. She told us to set an expectation that she understands. If she tantrums..ignore her but make sure she is safe. No eye contact, no words...n let her work through it. Its so hard to do...I'm just beginning to ignore it!

Re: Tantrums

DS has tantrums too, and also has a speech/language delay. Our speech therapist told us that some kids with speech delays have some pretty fierce tantrums, especially since they can't express themselves well verbally.

I also think part of it is toddlerhood. DS is turning 3 soon and I've seen him act very much like other kids his age that have no delays.

I agree with the other posters that said to ignore as much as possible and let your DC ride it out. Easier said than done. It's hard to reason with a tantrumming toddler. But hang in there . As your DC gets older and picks up more language the tantrums should subside.

Re: Tantrums

DS used to tantrum when he woke up from naps too, what I did that I found to work for him was to let him get out of bed when he was ready, then put him on the couch with his sippy and put on his fav TV show (Thomas).

he would eventually settle down after about 15 min.

DS is ASD so i couldnt hold him bc of his sensory issues... he doesnt really tantrum anymore.. he did it for about 6 months

Re: Tantrums

the best advice I can give is to just try and verbalize their feeling for them. Say things like "i know your upset but you're ok". "Mommy can see that you're mad but you're going to be ok" "I understand that you're upset"

This way you're validating their feelings so that they're not as frustrated for not being able to verbalize it themselves because you're showing that you understand them (even though you might not).

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Ryan normally gets annoyed, which can turn into a tantrum, when he is cranky and tired. So I know the cues and just let him relax and watch some tv when he wakes up, and then he is fine. I notice that if I try to talk to him a lot when he first wakes up, he gets EASILY aggravated, and watch out..