Severe Temper Tantrums 14 Months Old

14 months was THE WORST for us...until now (she's almost 2). Anyways, something that helped ENORMOUSLY was to teach her the sign for "help". Whenever I saw her start to get frustrated, I would ask, "Do you need help?" and take her hands in mine and do the sign for help (basically put both hands together and raise them up). Then I would do whatever it was she was trying to do (if appropriate) or redirect to something else (if it wasn't appropriate or safe). Now, she's excellent at saying "I need help!" using her words , instead of having a fit, when she wants something.

Ahh, yes. The wonderful sound of a toddler head hitting the floor. I have heard that sound one too many times.

My 16 month old has done this one or five times. When I see it starting to happen, I try to "help" him to the floor so he doesn't slam his head (or to avoid walls, stairs, furniture, etc.). I always let him be angry and once the initial furor is over, I will talk to him quietly about why I think he's mad, explain to him why he can't do the activity, tell him I love him and quickly try to divert his attention to something else that may interest him. Diversion is the key for my son.

Don't worry, D.. You aren't alone! I think we all wish we could wrap our kids up in protective bubbles, but then they wouldn't learn about cause and effect... like hitting our heads on the floor hurts! Thankfully temper tantrums don't last forever. We just have to weather through it.

Hey D.,
Im actually going through this right now with my daughter who is 2....She throws herself either backwards or forwards usually onto the floor....at first my hubby and I just ignored her...until one time she did it she banged her head so hard we both said ouch...soooo one of my friends from church recommended a book called 1-2-3 Magic for Christian Parents...I believe she got it from Barnes and Noble...Im not sure if your little guy is too young for this but its all about the 1,2,3 method of discipline but its Biblical based....Isnt it awesome that we have God to turn to and he is there no matter what??? Im like you...after I was saved I realized that there was no other way to live than to live it for the Lord!! Hope this helps!!
God Bless,
Meg :)

TOTALLY normal. I know it seems like they are going to hurt themselves, and sometimes they do. Don't you wish you had a padded room? I think you are doing the right thing in putting him somwhere he can't hurt himself. Let him throw a fit but stick to your guns. This is the age where they really try to push us to get what they want. They have to know YOU are the one in control and that no amount of screaming or kicking is going to get them what they want.

This seemed to pass fairly quickly with my daughter but I know many people who struggled for wuite some time with wild tantrums. Just try to be patient. While he's throwing his fit - put him in the crib, get as far away from the noise as possible, sit down and do some deep breathing exercises to try to keep your stress levels down. Then you aren't so worked up either and you can be more calm and rational when you go back to him. Believe me, it works! Keep it up - don't give in!!!

Hi D.,
my friend's son did the exact same thing at about the same age! Luckily he never hurt himself, but I know that she was a little worried about it as well. Her son is 17 months now and he only occasionally still does it. I guess it is a phase as so many things the little ones come up with! If you have mostly carpet in your house and not too many sharp table corners and stuff like that, I wouldn't worry too much.
Hope this helps you to see that you are not the only one with that experience!
E.

It is completely normal. My son was a champion fit thrower at that age too, but he grew out of it. It gets easier as he learns new words. It comes with the frustration of being able to understand more than they can communicate, plus the inability to control impulses. Some people have taught their baby to sign for simple things, like hunger, thirst and tired. We never did, but I can tell you from personal experience that 90 percent of his fits were because he was hungry, thristy or tired, and was too busy to stop playing until it was nearly a crisis with his body, then the fit. We learned to have a little healthy nibbles around between meals. When all else failed, taking him for a ride in the car usually called him down.

I have a funney story about my son's fit throwing. We have a tile floor in our kitchen. The first time our son threw a fit in there he head butted the floor - you can imagine what happened, he stop throwing the fit and started crying with pain and had a big knot on his head, but nothing a little TLC and ice pack could not solve. The very next time he threw a fit in the kitchen, he went to head butt the floor again, and instead of hitting it full force---he gently tapped the tile floor with his forehead...so there you have it. He learned quickly from his mistake!

Don't give into what he wants but since you know what sets him off into tantrums, slow down, and be careful of his location when confronting the situation with him... Try to take him into your arms when having to say no to him to keep him from falling back on his head...talk calmly to him and try to get him to focus on something else...

Dear D.;
You don't give enough info. Or, at least, I'm confused. You say that your youngest is throwing trantrums, yet, you love life etc ... you've got a problem. Again, not enough info: but, here's what I did, 23 years ago when I had that same problem. I threw myself into a similar tantrum right alongside my son ... we ended up laughing and making fun of it. He stopped it.