22 Month Old Who Crys All the Time

It must be this age. My daughter is 26 months and has turned into a whining machine. She whines b/c she's thirsty, then the cup isn't right, then she's not thirsty, then the TV isn't on, then it's too loud! UGH!!! It's enough to drive me BATTY!!!! I just tell her "I can't understand you when you whine." Then I walk away. I refuse to pay attention to it. If it escalates into a tantrum I warn her, then put her in timeout till she's calmed down. It's slowly getting better. Very very slowly! She's also become lots more shy lately. We haven't changed our routine or anything, so I honestly just think it's the age. Suddenly they're aware of the big outside world and they get overwhelmed. I try to re-assure her as much as I can. Good luck and we'll keep our fingers crossed that this stage ends soon!

Sounds like an age thing to me too. We have a 29 month old. There are things that tick her off because there's a language barrier. They know what they want, but can't find it, and can't tell you what it is, so they get frustrated.

With our oldest, when she was at a daycare, she'd come home VERY clingy. When she was about 18 months we started having our neighbor watch her, she started getting the attention she wanted/needed, and therefore was LESS clingy when we got home.

Might be a good idea to get him a buddy (stuffed animal) that he can take with him to daycare that "smells like home".

Good luck!

Oh my goodness, I totally remember this highly annoying phase!! :) With both of my children, everytime they whined over something I sent them to the corner. They may have still had their whining moments, but atleast they were cut down to just a few seconds since they were sent to the corner right away. Eventually, it got a lot better and they learned to control the whines BEFORE they started

Does the sitter have other children, first of all? Speaking as a baby-sitter and mother of an almost 3 year old, I know all too well that kids pick up bad habits from other kids very quickly. I started watching a little girl about a year older than my daughter who has a nasty habit of whining ALL DAY LONG. It didn't take my daughter too long before she TRIED the same thing. I tell her, as I do the older child, that my ears do not hear whining. If they want to speak normally, I can hear them (and ignore them until they speak normally).

It's taken about a month or a little more to overcome the whining while she's in my care (though she still whines the moment when her mother arrives on the scene), but my daughter has given up trying.

I wouldn't rule out a problem with the sitter being a good fit, though, until you find out what if he does it with her and if so, IF she does anything about it, and what?

It's nice to see I'm not alone. Our 20 mo dd has started to have fits for "no reason". We've figured out that she is testing her limits when she doesn't get her way or she's frustrated because she can't do what she wants (like put her socks on by herself or get all the last bits of cereal out of the bowl). If we try to help sometimes it makes it even worse so we just have to step back and let her take time at what she's doing. We've learned to read her out breaks. If she lays or sits on the floor and cries we leave her alone because this is just a tantrum. If she is wandering around crying, she probably needs a hug. If she is screaming while trying to do something we'll ask if she wants help and if she screams louder when we do help we leave her to her own devices. Sometimes she'll cry because we say no to something. We try to show her that we still love her, even though we understand her wants but are denying her, and then try to redirect her attention to something else. If she doesn't calm down, we'll ask if she needs to go into time out. Sometimes she'll put herself there to give herself time to cool down.

It's probably just a matter of learning how to read your son's whining and crying and figuring out when he's frustrated, in need of a hug or cuddle, or just being ornery.

Hi A., I know some will tell you he is old enough not to act like a baby, but stop and think he isn't two yet, he was abandoned in his eyes for most of the day, so unless this child is being disrepctful or throwing a fit, pick him up give him a hug and tell him mommy would like for you to use your words instead of whine!! Ask him about his day!! Talk to him just like you would your spouse, (with in reason) and let him know just how much you miss him and love him! Set aside a special time for just you and him, and see if this doesn't help, also maybe he isn't a good fit for this sitter and you might invegistate further, and find out you need to find another one!!!!! Good luck