23 Month Old Super Emotional in the Morning

Updated on March 01, 2011
H.J. asks from Fairchild AFB, WA
9 answers

My daughter is almost 23 months old and lately has been waking up very emotional in the mornings. She cries and cries for anywhere from 15-45 mins. She only calms down if I pick her up and hold her but I have to be standing up and holding her. Otherwise she starts crying again. And sometimes even holding her doesnt calm her down. She is gettting at least 12 hours of sleep so I know she isnt still tired. She used to wake up and be excited and happy and immediately start playing with our dogs. Now its just drama in the morning. Anyone else experience this?

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B.D.

answers from Eugene on

Is it before she eats breakfast? Maybe it's a low blood sugar issue. My 5 year old still gets crabby/emotional right before a meal (especially in the morning) and then feels much better after he has eaten. Good luck!

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M.W.

answers from Des Moines on

yes,my friends daughter used to do that....now she is fine....v just found out what she jus loves doing...in her case it was watching tv.....so v wud put d tv on with her cartoon, so she could rolling on the couch and take 15 mins to get active and happy...and then brushing and evrythin else...try n find ur daughters favorite activity!!

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A.D.

answers from Dallas on

Try singing a song to her in the morning. Children love singing songs. If your not a singer, pop in a CD with a song. Rub her legs or hair before picking her up from bed. This helps sooth the child and feel loved. If you have puppets, have one of the puppets sing a good morning song. If your a happy camper in the morning then your little one would be too. You set the tone for how the rest of the day will be.

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M.W.

answers from Seattle on

You're describing my son's experience to a "T". We had the same problem with him in the mornings. He would lose all rational thought, and just fall to pieces. We found it was because his blood sugar plummetted from the long overnight fast. As soon as we fed him, be became his sweet normal self. This got so severe we eventually put him on 25mg. of Biotin (obtained through our naturopath). He would take it every night just before bed. This somehow regulated his blood sugar, so he did not have the severe mood swings (similar behavior occurred after naps, and if he just went too long between meals). Your child may not have it this bad, so I would just try giving her a glass of milk right as she wakes, and then feed her breakfast soon after and see if this helps. As I stated, my son could not make rational decisions when feeling this way, so I didn't give him choices until he calmed down. Milk came first, then rational thought, then he could decide what he wanted for breakfast. Sometimes he needed a piece of toast with the milk too. It was like flipping a switch as soon as he got food.

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M.R.

answers from Columbus on

You could also try a little juice in a sippy cup that she can take as soon as she wakes, maybe it is a blood sugar dip, that makes kids feel really kranky if they are prone to that.

M.

A.J.

answers from Williamsport on

My 19 month's old witching our is dinner time after afternoon nap. Nothing helps. She just cries. Then after 15 minutes-an hour, she's herself again. Wait it out. It's a phase. My daughter does the escalated screaming if I'm holding her and "sit down" too, and since she's not allowed tantrums (aside from the witching hour crying) she gets a firm "NO" -(not full discipline like at other times, because she's too sleepy and weird to retain it)-but a "NO" and put down and left alone after that. I go make dinner while she cries.

In the mornings, we always greet the kids with happy smiles and joy and hugs-and I do the same for my daughter after her nap-but during the witching hour-it doesn't matter. It just makes her mad if I try to be too cheery. It's sort of funny. The other kids and I just say, "Oh no, she's possessed." and carry on with our lives.

A.D.

answers from Norfolk on

My 2 year old son does this a lot, and it drives me batty. He's just plain mean when he wakes up from a nap or in the morning sometimes and will scream and scream for no apparent reason. I have learned 2 things that help though: i give him 10-15 minutes to get all his cranky out before i go get him if he wakes up crying, and in the morning I get him some milk before going into his room to great him with. He sleeps 12 hours also and gets pretty hungry/thirsty in that time (although he sleeps with a sippy cup of water, its rarely touched in the a.m.). I think when they wake up hungry or thirsty they have an awful headache and don't know that freaking out just makes it worse

P.W.

answers from Dallas on

It's hard to figure out, I know. I am just wondering if it could be sinus drainage. If you have heat on in the house now it may cause sinus stuff and she may be waking with a little headache. I know that can happen to me and after I am upright just a couple of minutes it goes away.

T.B.

answers from Bloomington on

When my youngest wakes, I don't go get him right away. If I get him when he first wakes, he acts like that. If I let him stay in bed for a while (10 min. or so), babbling and whining a little, he is in a much better mood when i get him up. You could try that!

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