Whining Toddler

I taught both of my children the basic sign language and it had helped a lot. i would buy the book Baby Sign Language Basics by Monta Z. Briant it is a small book that has 60 basic signs they are really nice when they are learning to talk but cant. My son knows, more, milk, please, thank you, eat, ect. these all have helped me communicate a lot better with him and the book was only $8.95.

J.-
I completely and utterly feel your pain. (I tease my daughter who's almost one that she can yell, scream or ANYTHING- just not whine.) I find she whines most when she's hungry. I tried the distraction method, (and felt silly.) Everytime she started whining I'd jump up and down, or move her to a different area. (I swear, sometimes she did it to hear her own little voice, too.) :) Now I use my 'stern mama' voice and say, "No Whining." She looks right up at me, usually lets out one more, and goes on her way. (Although, I still feel like she's 2 months old and there shouldn't be any sterner words than, "You're adorable.") I'm sure I'll get over it.

Good Luck-- hang in there. Let me know what works. (I may use that too!) :)

K., (and Ava.)

You can try signlanguage. My daughter learned this at daycare and it helped us tremendously. She was able to communicate somewhat atleast and it got the wheels rolling for talking she was a earlier talker because she communicated with signlanguage first.

My cousin tried the timeout approach but more around the age of 2. Not exactly my method of choice but everytime her daughter or the little boy she watches whines they get a time out or have to stand next to the wall. My cousins number one pet peave so she's kinda strict on it but it works for her.

You can also try and talk super duper slow and monotone and talk to your son and say for example "What do you want to eat?" and have one in each hand "A Banana" or "A Apple" and let him point or whatever that will help. Kids like choices too.

My son (born 10-25-05) went through the same thing shortly after his 1st birthday. It was HORRIBLE for a bout a week, if we weren't RIGHT there he was screaming. What we had to do was ignore him when he was fussing. If he's tantruming on the floor walk over him. It's better now, he's not wining as much and his fits are much less. He still fusses and has to be RIGHT there when I am cooking, but I just ignore him when I am doing what I need to do and then I give him attention when I'm done with my stuff. I think it's just a phase.

Are you sure he is not hungry. Our oldest used to whine a lot and even get down right naughty. Offering a bananna or a healthy granola bar or even a tiny box of rasins (they are always fun) might just help. You may think that you just fed him... trust me, just like you and me sometimes they get hungry fast. Especially how tiny their little bellies are.
Just a thought.
Have a great day.
A.

I would just keep saying "I don't understand that kind of voice, let's try your Big Boy voice" consistency, I wouldn't give in to his whinny, I would repeat what he is saying slowly and clearly.
Good Luck!

only suggestion I have besides what's already been suggested, is try offering different things when he is whining. Also, I used to tell my daughter to use her words, when it was words she knew. I think that helped her to talk early. It is a ROUGH stage, I do agree, sign language can help for sure. I do NOT miss that stage and am not looking foward to it again. GL

I have a 14 month old who seems to be hungry most of the time when he is whining. I think at this age they seem to be hungry all the time. My son eats about 6 times a day, three meals and three nutritious snacks. Once I started feeding him more often he seemed to stop whining so much!!!

Hi J.~

I have a son who is 17 months old, he gets fussy also... Sometimes yeah, its his way of communicating. Its normally cause its something he wants but cant say it. Like when he wants food he starts to fuss or cry. Its the only other way to tell us what they want till they learn the words.
Now when he wants up, he says up. When I finish changing him he says" all done". I am teaching him to use his words of what he can say. Its what I did with my daughter 11 yrs ago.
Try to get ur son to say words of what he would want, it will help later.
Good luck and let me know how it turns out.
C. D

Oh the whining! My three year old whines a lot, and I don't think she even realizes it half the time. Your son is too small for this approach, but I'll tell her, "Ask me in your normal voice" One year olds have limited vocabulary usually, but it isn't too early to start take notice of the whining. Our daughter learned some sing language at daycare also and it was great! I knew when she wanted something to drink or was hungry. You might look up info on baby sign language and learn at least the basics. "Signing Time" on PBS is als a GREAT show for learing some signs. On the other hand, don't get too worried about the whining. There is always something as a parent you'll worry about. Looking back, we learned we put way too much worry into things like that and let them bother us too much.
Good Luck J.,
C.