I can't seem to get to the root of it, but I'm sure something's worrying him.
He's 3.8. We had a really tough start to the year (2 deaths in the family, me with sever Hyperemesis, imminent arrival of the new baby, all mixed in with DS having Glue Ear, which we didn't realise and the poor boy was pretty much deaf in one ear). His behaviour spiralled quite badly, he became quite angry, lots of hitting and shouting etc. His baby sister then arrived early, with no warning, and he woke up one morning and found that DH and I had done a midnight flit to the hospital and grandma was waiting with him.
However, after baby DD came home, it was like a weight had been lifted and DS became a different child. Utterly besotted with the baby. He seemed really happy again so we put it all down to the stresses of the beginning of the year.
DD is now 9 weeks old and DS is starting to change again. He's bitten his nails so much his fingers are red. He's started grinding his teeth. Lots of tantrums / defiance (though this may be normal for his age). He keeps complaining of tummy aches. He says he hates nursery and battles getting dressed / ready, but as soon as he's dressed he's keen to go, runs in to his room with barely a glance back at me.
He has mentioned a few times that a particular child at nursery is mean to him. This surprised me and nursery are usually very on the ball with this sort of thing and deal with it swiftly. Parents are kept informed. DS says he's not told any of the staff because the other child "won't let him". I spoke to his key worker today, and she said she would keep an extra eye on things. DS is quite strong willed and often gets upset if another child won't do what he says (eg won't give him a toy if he demands it), so it could be that. Or it could be that's this child is picking on him. Or it could be something entirely different, I suppose.
How do you talk to a young child to find out exactly what's going on? His speech is good, but he's reluctant to discuss this with me. The nail biting / teeth grinding / tummy aches screams out that he's stressed, doesn't it? Should I take him to the GP? Any other suggestions?
Please or to access all these features
Please
or
to access all these features
Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.
Behaviour/development
How can I figure out what's troubling 3YO DS?
73 replies
BellaGoth · 12/10/2016 08:42
OP posts:
Don’t want to miss threads like this?
Weekly
Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!
Log in to update your newsletter preferences.
You've subscribed!
Please create an account
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.