Could I have some advice please

[lucysmam]

My 19mo hasn't had a daytime nap since she was about 14mo which has never been a problem. Until yesterday!

She was the crabbiest, stompy feet-iest, screamiest little girl you could imagine!! She kicked and screamed her way from 3pm to 6pm which is her usual bed time (if she goes any earlier she doesn't sleep all night . . . she gets up ready for the day at 4am!)

Then this morning she has got up still screamy and shouty. So I have put her upstairs to give us both time out before I got really fed up and shouted at her.

Do you think that this is the best tactic to employ in these situations when at home with her? Or should I try re-introducing a daytime nap?

& what do you do when your lo throws a tantrum whilst out and about? (I hate taking her anywhere because she screams her way to and from places and depending on where we're going, while we're out too)

Sorry, bit long and rambling but hoping someone can offer a little bit of advice, thanks for reading

[lucysmam]

no-one any experience of this at all?

I'll stick to what I've been doing and hope for the best then

[thegrowlygus]

My 18mth old was incredibly cross and stampy yesterday too. He wouldn't have a nap (usually does) and by bedtime was just cross about everything. I have put it down to teething (because that is all I ever do!!)

I tried everything yesterday - cuddling (crosser), distracting him (worked for a short time but then got crosser), feeding him (worked quite well whilst actually troughing on a yoghurt but beyond that just got cross about me not giving him grapes because he would pop them in his mouth, bite them then spit them out!)

maybe try getting her to nap? Sorry, not much use, just there with you!

[Elibean]

Hmm, have never had a non-napping 19 mo old so not sure I have answers....but I do know that small ones change very fast, so its always worth being flexible and trying new tactics.

You could try a day time nap, if you think she's shouty because she's tired (is she more active than she was? Recently started running around more, etc?) dd2 is 21 months and definitely uses more energy than she did a few months ago.

At the same time, lots going on for toddlers...teeth, coming down with bugs, frustrations of wanting to communicate but not yet being able to talk well, etc.

I've found with both dds that giving lots of warnings of the 'in a minute, we are going to say bye bye to the car/house/toys/room/whatever and go and do xyz' helps a lot. Distraction helps sometimes. Mirroring (eg 'you sound angry' etc) often calms dd2 down and defuses the beginning of a tantrum.

As for dealing with tantrums when out, what do you do when at home? If she's screaming a lot when out, maybe she is tired, or hungry, or anxious (its an age for irrational fears!). HTH a little, also bumping for you

[Seeline]

My lo's both stopped day time naps at 18 mths ( their choice not mine!!) They did get extremely bad tempered from time to time, sometimes I felt through tiredness. DS in particular still woke very early every day regardless of this. I could sometimes get both of them to have an occassional daytime sleep by either going for a longish drive or putting them in the buggy for a wallk. Unfrtunately they would both always wake up if I then tried to remove them from car or buggy. With the buggy it was OK as I could just bring that indoors and leave them to it. With the car I just used to take a book and park up somewhere scenic until they woke up!!

[heroicsavage]

I found this a lot with my little boy. We stopped his naps at about 14 months as he would not sleep at night and woke between 3 and 4am. He was a nightmare. What we found was that if we put him to bed at between five and half past he still woke at the same time in the morning but was in a much better mood. He was still crabby come 3pm but the mornings were much easier and I usually tried to be at someones house or food shopping at that time as he seemed a bit better then. Sometimes I would just do stuff like give him a bowl of water to play in or play hide and seek under the duvet with him, anything to break the cycle really.

I used to find taking him out was really traumatic too and ashamed to say that I kind of stopped doing it as it just wound us both up.

He is much better now and goes to bed at a decent time and goes through phases of waking between 5 and half past but this morning he woke at 7.

Probably not much help to you but I do understand how awful it can make you feel sometimes.

[lucysmam]

She definately is more active than she used to be, partly because she's steadier on her feet and partly because I now look after a 3yo for 3 days a week.

thegrowlygus, she's def not hungry! Had her toast at 8am, then mine and oh's, then half a banana and a yoghurt. But she often does get cranky when hungry.

She has a completely irrational fear of men atm, but she isn't around any she doesn't know usually unless we're out and about and then it's only passing them on the street or when we're being served in a shop.

I usually give her something to eat to quiet her but can't go on forever jus randomly giving her snacks whenever she screams!

I'll stick to putting her upstairs and ignoring it for a while, see if it does the trick. If not, will try re-introducing a daytime nap from next Monday.

Glad to know I'm not the only one who has this with their lo!

[ByTheSea]

She may be coming down with something.

[lucysmam]

I wondered about that ByTheSea, but she has not got a temperature & no symptoms of anything at all so haven't given her anything.

Will keep a closer eye, see what she's like this afternoon