https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Mon, 27 Apr 2026 10:08:36 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/18-month-old-and-tantrums#post-2704760 Wed, 01 Mar 2017 22:18:53 +0000 paigeface 2704760@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gingerbebe: good to know there is a reason for this madness. It is truly like I don't even know my child all of the sudden. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/18-month-old-and-tantrums#post-2704377 Wed, 01 Mar 2017 11:31:15 +0000 gingerbebe 2704377@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@paigeface: there's an 18 month sleep regression at this age and it sucks pretty bad. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/18-month-old-and-tantrums#post-2704367 Wed, 01 Mar 2017 11:17:22 +0000 paigeface 2704367@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Wow, to me this is the hardest stage yet. Now we are dealing with the tantrums before bedtime. He usually went down without a fight and would be fine through the night. Now all the sudden he is fighting us tooth and nail at bedtime. This wouldn't be as exhausting if he didn't come to work with me everyday. I work for my family and we have our own office where he's come in with me since he was born. He finally cried himself to sleep last night after an hour and half of crying so hard he was gagging. Anyone else go through this at the 18 month stage? I am worn out to say the least. :shocked: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/18-month-old-and-tantrums#post-2690892 Thu, 02 Feb 2017 12:46:21 +0000 PawPrints 2690892@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It's normal at this age, and for a while yet to come. I recommend Janet Lansbury/RIE for a solid and really helpful approach to dealing with these issues. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/18-month-old-and-tantrums#post-2690891 Thu, 02 Feb 2017 12:45:53 +0000 paigeface 2690891@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gingerbebe: Yes! love this idea!! Hitting has just started too with our LO. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/18-month-old-and-tantrums#post-2690890 Thu, 02 Feb 2017 12:44:41 +0000 Dahlia 2690890@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We had this right at that same age. A month later she's mostly stopped for now. She got more verbal in that period and it really helped, although I know the tantrums will be back. </p> <p>When she was really upset I would ask her if she wanted a hug, and she'd almost always tearfully come in for one and it would calm her down a bit. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/18-month-old-and-tantrums#post-2690881 Thu, 02 Feb 2017 12:31:52 +0000 gingerbebe 2690881@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MrsBrewer: yeah so when DS would hit we would grab his hand and say "NO. We don't hit. We are gentle, gentle." And stroke our cheek softly while we said "gentle." Then we would say "YAY GOOD JOB!!! High five!!!" And high five. Then we used high fives as the positive reinforcement to everything. "YAY YOU ATE YOUR WHOLE LUNCH HIGH FIVE!" We also used high fives to greet new people if DS was shy and didn't want to say hi. We'd ask if he wanted to say hello and if not we would ask if he wanted to give a high five. 99% of the time he would give the high five because it was fun and it was still a greeting to the new person. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/18-month-old-and-tantrums#post-2690875 Thu, 02 Feb 2017 12:19:15 +0000 MrsBrewer 2690875@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gingerbebe: I love the high fives suggestion!! I have a 20 month old, and tantrums are strong in our household! As well as hitting/swatting by DD when she doesn't get what she wants! So thank you for that! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/18-month-old-and-tantrums#post-2690863 Thu, 02 Feb 2017 12:07:57 +0000 gingerbebe 2690863@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yeah it's normal at that age. It gets better the more verbal they become. They have all these opinions and feelings but can't convey them and you can't read their minds so they just flip out. My husband's way of dealing with it was to move my son to a safe open space on the floor so he could flip out without hurting himself and leave him alone. Once he'd calmed down we would ask if he wanted a hug, give empathy, and move on. Hitting started at this age too so we had to work on a lot of "gentle, gentle" and softly stroking faces and teaching him to give high fives (gives them the slapping sensation but it's positive). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/18-month-old-and-tantrums#post-2690859 Thu, 02 Feb 2017 12:01:21 +0000 littlejoy 2690859@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This is totally age appropriate behavior (and it's likely just starting). </p> <p>For us, taking a bit of time to get on her level and be open to her feelings being there helped. So, if she was pissed about something, we'd just give her space to cry. We'd acknowledge why she was upset. "I see that you didn't want to leave the park. It's time. We'll come back another day. It's okay to be upset." Over time, I think that empathizing and allowing her to have all of her feelings has helped. I'd say at 3, she has only had 4-6 real tantrums. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/18-month-old-and-tantrums#post-2690838 Thu, 02 Feb 2017 11:36:59 +0000 edelweiss 2690838@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>you're not doing anything wrong. i think this is pretty normal behavior at this age. my older son didn't have a huge tantrum phase at that age, but my second one is. i think he is so close to talking, but can't, and gets frustrated. i also think he is developing a clearer sense of agency and independence, and he can't always get what he wants or do what he wants to do or say what he wants to say, so it becomes frustrating. plus you've got the whole nap change issue which may be affecting him. </p> <p>with our younger one, when he reaches the red zone point, we've learned that the best thing is to leave him alone. distraction, talking and soothing don't always work. no doubt you will figure out what works best for your son to help him get past the tantrum.</p> <p>good luck! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/18-month-old-and-tantrums#post-2690834 Thu, 02 Feb 2017 11:33:14 +0000 MelisMc 2690834@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think it's age/developmental related. My son went through this at 18-20 months. He's now 22 months and they still happen, but not as often. He communicates better now and seems to not get frustrated quite as easily. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/18-month-old-and-tantrums#post-2690798 Thu, 02 Feb 2017 10:46:20 +0000 paigeface 2690798@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Hi mamas!</p> <p>Our LO is 18months at the end of this month and we are having a heck of a time with tantrums. I mean falling on the ground, banging his head on the wall, can't stop crying tantrums. Several things trigger them i.e. when my husband and I leave the room he has a meltdown (which we thought was separation anxiety?) We have had a few changes in his schedule - went down to one nap a day which is still a bit of a struggle but he naps from 11:30 to 1:00 on most days (lunch at 11:00.) We are trying to get the nap to be a little later in the afternoon but he doesn't make it past 11:30 quite yet since he wakes up at 6:30am now. Bedtime is 6:00pm because we get home from work with him at 5:30 and have dinner as soon as we get home. On weekends we put him down a little earlier around 5:45pm which works well. Did anyone else have a hard time around this age with freak outs/tantrums? I feel like we are losing are minds sometimes or that we are doing something wrong! :shocked: </p>