I have a 2 year old who throws these unbelievable fits. He trows himself on the floor and bangs his head on the ground and screams. I have never seen another child do this. I am so afraid that he is going to seriously hurt himself. I don't know how to get him to stop. I have tried ignoring him thinking if he isn't getting any attention that he will stop. I have tried picking him up and talking to him and he just continues to throw himself around while I hold him. Help!
This ia a normal thing and he will get past it. I have 4 children and all of them have gone thru this at one point. Some worse than others. They are frustraited.
Dear M. I have two kids that did this. I would have to hold them down and say really simple commands in a calm voice (no hitting) after a while it worked I also got it documented at the dr's office because my daughter would hit herself and bang her head so hard that it would leave bruises. With my son I would move everything on the floor and I would trun on Barney soon he would hear the music and watch. Both my kids truned out to be autistic. Don't freak out that would be the worst case thing there are a lot of two year olds who do tantrums who are NOT autistic. Good Luck M.
If you still have him in a crib, pick him up and put him in it and leave the room. That way he's away from table or wall corner and toys that he may hurt himself on. When he stop the fit go get him and tell him you love him. Don't over talk what happened, I wouldn't even talk about it just go back to what you were doing before it started.
Hi M.-
My 3 year old did this from 18 months until he was around 23 months. He would throw hour fits where at times we thought he would either knock his teeth out or break his nose because of the banging on the floor. He almost broke my husbands nose while he was calmly taking to him trying to get him to stop, he would throw his body all over the place like a wild man. Supernanny kids had nothing on our little man!
After a 1/2 hour of me crying to the peditrition, she suggested we put him in the pack in play(a safe place for him) in our room and go downstairs. I know its not good to leave children alone when they cause such fits, but when in the pack in play, he really could not do much damage to himself which really made him mad, and eventually he realized that the actions were not getting a reaction.
I know this is so hard. We had trouble traveling due to these fits. Plus I had just had my second child who was only 1 month old when it started.
It WILL pass. Just be as patient as you can be. I do not know what I would have done if my doctor did not tell me about the pack in play idea. I was really at my edge with him. The trying to talk calm was turning into me screaming at him in order to "shock him out of it"(totally does not work!. It was so frustrating and to be able to put him in a place that I could walk away and know he really could not hurt himself was a really sanity saver for all of us.
Be consistant. Warnings at this point really do not work. He acts up, he geos to the pack in play. No questions asked. He does not come out until he is not screaming or thrashing around.
Good luck and feel free to email me. I really know how you feel. Our little temper tantrum boy is as good as gold now. The temper is still there, but so is there fear of time out!
This advice actually comes from my grandmother who got it from her family physician. My mom (now a grandmother in her own right)at age 2 did the same thing. This scared my grandma half to death as she was afraid of my mom hurting herself. The Doctor told grandma to throw a glass of cold water on her tell her that is enough and just walk away. My grandma was horrified she couldn't possibly do that!!!. But she did, not only did it stop the fit but my mom never did it again. I can't promise you instant success but water won't hurt him only shock him and remember use a cup or a glass not a bucket a glass is all it takes to get his attention.
Tantrums are no fun. It sounds like you tried the ignoring part and the talking part and neither has worked. I am a firm believer in natural consequences and letting the child discover that it really hurts when they bang their head on the floor but some children are just too stubborn to notice the pain. What you could do is try to remove your son and place him on a softer surface such as a mattress or pile of pillows. Or if he's too hard to move, try to make a game out of it and try to slide a pillow under his head everytime he lifts his head to drop it down again. Eventually he will see that he's not getting the results he's looking for or it will make him laugh. Another idea is to check out the book or DVD called the Happiest Toddler On the Block by Dr. Karp. He is wonderful and his techniques really do work. Good luck.
