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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

My 5 month old has discovered how to throw a tantrum...help!

12 replies

TheMeow · 19/01/2011 12:32

My ds has recently began to "cry" and scream hysterically if denied something he has had his eye on (mainly the house phone, but it can also be a mobile, the remote, my hairbrush...basically anything that is not a toy so we try to keep it out of his way).

I say "cry" because if he gets what he wants he stops immediately, whereas if he's genuinely upset it takes a while for him to calm down.

Now I don't want him turning into a job for supernanny but can't see any way I can stop this behaviour considering he's only 5 months old and I don't want to just give in to him.

Does anyone know how I should handle this?

OP posts:

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Iggly · 19/01/2011 13:18

Why don't you let him play with stuff that isn't a toy? If it's not dangerous then what's the harm? If you don't want him to play with stuff then hide it as he's too young to understand. Or distract.

kenobi · 19/01/2011 13:20

Distraction always worked for me at that age. I would start going 'wow this is amazing!' and playing intently with a different toy and she was too nosy not to want that instead.
I also had a heuristic play box filled with 'real' things, like an old unused mobile phone, fake remote control etc which she loved.

But I just started a thread on tantrums with my 13 mo (who is obviously much older than yours) but lots of people have offered really helpful advice on how to deal with pre-verbal tantrums. You'll also see how little I really know!

Original poster

TheMeow · 19/01/2011 13:29

Iggly Sorry my post wasn't that clear - I don't mind him playing with stuff that isn't a toy so long as it's not dangerous or could be destroyed by him playing with it and so yes I do keep things like that out of his way.

He's allowed to play with the remote and my mobile because there's nothing he could do to them but the biggest problem at the moment is the house phone. There's no way to lock the keypad so he ends up ringing random numbers, of course it's easy enough to hide this from him most of the time but if someone calls us and he sees we are on the phone all hell breaks lose! I've tried giving him an old phone that looks similar but has no batteries in it but he's not interested...he only wants the working one :o

I'm off to look at your thread now kenobi thank you!

OP posts:

Iggly · 19/01/2011 13:38

Sorry Meow that makes sense. I have a 15 month DS and he was similar - well still is. Won't be fooled

I would just say no, you cant play with the phone, then distract. He'll get the hang of it! DS used to crawl under our desk to play with the wires. I kept saying no and now he doesn't bother. Took a while!

RobynLou · 19/01/2011 13:40

at 5m I'd just distract him.

RobynLou · 19/01/2011 13:42

and move everything you don't wan him to have up a shelf... as DD's gotten taller all the things she's not allowed have slowly migrated up our bookshelves!

notnowbernard · 19/01/2011 13:42

I honestly don't think they can tantrum at 5m

aPixieInMyCaramelLatte · 19/01/2011 13:58

I didn't know a 5month old could have a tantrum!

Hairbrushes, remotes, mobiles, meh, let him play. Or as other say distract distract distract.

Original poster

TheMeow · 19/01/2011 14:14

I'll try and film it next time and you can see! I didn't know they could either but honestly he starts with this "huh-huh-huh" type crying, which escalates into full on screams (I've heard him scream in pain when he got his jabs and this is different...there's no urgency to it and it's less high pitched. His tantrum screaming just makes him sound so angry).

I shall continue trying to distract him then and hope that he calms down a bit!

OP posts:

notnowbernard · 19/01/2011 14:17

I've got a 5m old as well and he quite regularly goes a bit ballistic about various things

But I don't believe it's tantrumming. He hasn't got the mental capabilities to tantrum

notnowbernard · 19/01/2011 14:20

He will go completely into one if I don't produce a breast on demand within 30 seconds, for example

ChippingInSmellyCheeseFreak · 19/01/2011 14:27

Just calmly say 'No, it's not yours' and then distract him with something else. He will soon come to learn that when you say that he wont get it, no matter how much he screams. Of course he's only a little baby, but not too young to start saying the words is it :)

My niece stripped a row of numbers off of a new mobile phone and some things are just too filthy/dangerous to give to a baby to play with (keys) - 'No' is a valuable lesson!

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