My son turned 20 months old about 3 weeks ago - and I feel like all of a sudden, I have a different child on my hands. I'm looking for any suggestions to deal with my new boy.... While I think this may be the start of the "terrible twos", I'm concerned I might be overlooking something and want to see if anyone has had similar experiences. My son has a history of being a terrible sleeper at night, and has had chronic food allergies/intolerances + interrupted sleep patterns since his early days of colic. For the last 8 or so months though, he has welcomed naps, has been able to self-soothe by sucking his thumb, and has been a pleasure in daycare (which he only goes to twice per week). Since he hit the 20 month mark, however, he has stopped sucking his thumb, has been going through what appears to be one cold after another (or could be seasonal allergies), screams going down for his one nap, as well as at nighttime, and has become significantly hysterical for the last 3 weeks we have left him at daycare. I have come up with a list of things that could be affecting him in this way: his daycare just added two infants, he has transitioned to one later nap consistently, allergies, delayed separation anxiety... but any advice as to how to manage this until it subsides would be great. He has a food allergy specialist, an osteopath and a PCP who all follow him, but no one seems to have any idea what is going on. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Not sure what it could be except that around 18m they do have seperation anxiety , even when they are being taken and left in a usual place , you would just need to persevere with that and reassure him that you will be back later for him , and also his age in general , they do become screamers/whiners and throw themselves around a lot around age 2 , so I think you will just have to ride it out. Sorry!
My son seemed to do this before he had a development spurt. It was like his body only had so much energy and when he was busy growing his brain, he didn't have much left to use for controlling his temper.
Try being his re-stabilizer & be the energy he needs to help calm down. It's different because personalities differ, but it may help to empathize, touch, do something silly, repeat (with gusto!), or even get him ready for whatever is coming by telling him (short and simple) or showing him (have a toy do it first -- even have the toy protest and then realize it's a good thing to do) what's coming up.
Sorry you're dealing with this. Remember it's not you. And that it (eventually) will pass.
It's very interesting that he has these food issues. I have several friends whose children exhibited rages that couldn't be explained by transitions such as the ones you name. They were tied to his food sensitivities. By changing his nutrition and giving him the supplements he needed (which the Amer Medical Association said we ALL need - and that was in 2002), one friend found that the rages disappeared in a month and all 60 food allergies disappeared within 6 months. Some took longer than others but they are all gone and he has been a happy child ever since. Other friends have had similar results. We are all missing nutrients because our food is deficient no matter how "well" we eat. Instead of removing foods, you can add what's missing. I'd be happy to help if you want to pursue this.
Hi Halle, All I can think about is what is going on at the daycare?
I remember my daughter use to scream like crazy when we went
into the pool store. We have gotten rid of seasonal allergies as well
as food intolerances in my family. I have more information for you
if you would like to hear about the things I did. email me
____@____.com
2 year old molars coming maybe?
Any chance he's cutting molars? That might explain some of the stuff that's going on.
