My 2.4 year old DD has just thrown the biggest tantrum I have ever witnessed, and I am slightly in shock. She woke after a long nap (quite unusual these days) with a really dirty nappy. When I tried to change it she started screaming in my face, trying to hit me, trying to scratch her own legs and arms. She would nnot be distracted, whatever I tried. Normally I would have eventually tried leaving her to calm down for a few minutes, but this nappy was leaking everywhere and I was also concerned she must be very uncomfortable.
I ended up having to pull the nappy off and sticking her in the bath against her will, with her screaming and kicking the whole time. She then refused to let me dry or dress her, until I eventually said she could watch TV and have a snack, at which point she began to calm down. I know that offering something that should be a treat is absolutely the wrong thing to do, but I was desperate by this point.
SHe is now calm thanks to CBeebies and some raisins, but I am seriously worried that there might be something wrong with her - e.g. ADHD??! I know some of you will be laughing at me as of course toddlers can have bad tantrums, but this went on for about 40 minutes in total and she honestly looked quite manic while she was screaming and I just couldn't find any wya of calming her down.
What do you think? Normal or not? What would you have done to handle the situation better?
Background info - I recently had another DD, now aged 9 weeks, and that has definitely caused DD1's behaviour to deteriorate, but we are donkig ou very best to ensure she gets lots of attention and feels involved, and I thought things were improving... until today.