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I have a 21 month old son and he used to be the most loving sharing child but recently he has been throwing uncontrollable tantrums. Has anyone experienced this? I was wondering if it isn't partially food related. Has anyone experimented with different foods and behavior?
Hi Brenda,
I am all for food and behaviour as i am a sugar / chocoholic etc and have seen it's effects on children however...
I reference an awesome couple of books that make so much sense and have made life much easier with my two yr old. http://www.alyson.ca/
"Breaking the Good Mom Myth" (Wiley, 2006) and the new "Honey I Wrecked The Kids" (Wiley, 2009) by Alyson Schafer.
I was convinced my toddler was tantruming from eating the not so healthy food at gramma's (as she was an angel up until 20 mos) but have since discovered attention and power issues were arising. Even if you can't find the books (our library had them) her website is really good for tips. http://www.alyson.ca/out_and_about/ if you scroll down she reviews tantrums in public. At home she suggests leaving the room, or we go upstairs etc and leave her on the main floor - it totally worked for us! they just want an audience.
at home, "in my control- trying to make the perfect environment mode" : ), my daughter had gone without eating any sugar or preservatives and had had enough sleep, no chemicals in the house, organic bedding and food, no carpets, no dairy, and would still tantrum. alyson's ideas made sense to us and really do work for us.
good luck in your search!
I always feel that sugar could contribute to behavior issues, as well as lack of sleep. I am a special education teacher for kids 0-7, and specialized in behavior, and have 3 kids of my own, one who is currently 2. That said, I think this is just the age of tantrums. Make sure they're getting a good nights sleep, try to keep sugar away, but chances are they will still happen. I always teach my parents to ignore ignore ignore! I've done it too and it absolutely works. Don't feed into the tantrums, let them go. Try to distract if you see them coming, and calmly help give them the words they need to communicate their frustrations. They tantrum at this age b/c their language is not typically developed enough to properly communicate to you so help give them the language and encourage imitation. I promise you, it will end, it will just end faster if you ignore it, even if everyone at the grocery store is staring at you. good luck, you can do it and keep in mind everything is a phase and before you know it this one will be over:)
Thank you so much for the kind words of encouragement. We have come up with a plan to curb the tantrums. He gets plenty of sleep but we have cut back on the refined sugar which I think has helped a bit. The tool that has been the most successful is moving him to a safe chair in his room where he sits until he is done screaming. We are being really consistent and I think it's starting to work. Thanks for the book info. I will look it up now. It's nice to know that I'm not alone.
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