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HELP! My once easy and sweet 11-month-old DD had suddenly turned into a tantrum queen overnight-WTH?
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Anonymous
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Is it possible that their personalities can change seemingly overnight? She went from being a baby who rarely cried or fussed to one that throws her face down on the floor and screams and cries hysterically if even the slightest thing goes wrong (ex: we take away something she shouldn't be holding, she loses her balance, misses putting a piece of food in her mouth when self-feeding, etc).
Anybody else experience this type of sudden change in their babies? |
Anonymous
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Our DS was a late teether and when he began to teeth, his personality did change. He became much clingier, whinier, wanted to be held all the time and stamped his feet in anger and frustration if I wanted to put him down or stop rocking him. This was all very much unlike him before teething, when he was wildly excited to explore and run off on his own and was very resilient.
Now he has 8 teeth and when a new one comes, often for half a day or so that unhappy baby comes back, but for the most part my happier more free spirited baby has been more often who I spend the day with... So I would try to think about if she's sleep deprived or out of sorts for any reason and address those root causes. Babies this age don't have many skills for communicating. I think my DS just doesn't have many ways of saying how much things hurt and how out of sorts he feels, so he wants to be held and comforted. GL. |
Anonymous
| DS started going through this at 11 months as well. I don't think it's teething for him, I think it's developmental stage (though it is definitely worse when he's tired). In general, he's more willful and wants to do things his own way (feed himself, chew on the electrical cord, not get in his car seat, etc) and so when he can't have his way, or he gets frustrated because he can't do figure out a toy, etc, he will fling himself on the ground and sob (or if I am holding him, he'll fling himself backward violently). He is, outside of these meltdowns, still a happy, cheerful, curious baby. But at this age babies begin to learn that the world is a complicated and sometimes unfair place, and this is their natural response to that injustice. We usually deal with it by talking to him calmly--but I tell him that he's okay and that he needs to calm down and then I can help him. Usually I try to figure out what's frustrated him and fix the situation without "giving in" to him--example, he wants to feed himself, so I give him a spoon and help him do it. He wants something that he can't have, so I explain why (not safe for babies) and offer him something else. Most of all, I stay calm and usually his storms blow over in a matter of seconds. |
Anonymous
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My 11mo has started doing this to some degree as well. Before this he was the happiest, easiest, mellowist baby ever. Now, if he's not happy with the situation, we often get a sort of mini-tantrum. For him, I think he's more aware that he has preferences and can sometimes have a say in what happens. When he doesn't get that say, he gets upset.
I also read that for older babies and toddlers, there are so few things that they have control over, that when they don't get their way with respect to something that they feel they should (or have in the past) it can be very upsetting. For instance, my son lost it once when DH closed the dishwasher while DS was still playing with the door to it. It wasn't that he wanted to keep playing with the door, it was that he wanted to be the one to close it. So I try to, where possible, let DS help us or do things himself. You can see it in his face that he's very proud of himself, and it's really sweet to see. |
Shopmom
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| My son recently turned two, but at around 10 months I experienced the same thing. Its common that around that age, your child will start to show signs of entering that "terrible two stage". They want to take more advantage of their independence. You may want to try allowing your child to make some small decisions more often....like deciding on wearing a red shirt or the blue shirt. Good Luck! |