Hi,
I'm worried about dd's massive screaming fits. Is this normal? Should I be worried? etc etc etc.
Since she was born she's had occasional, inconsolable screaming fits. When she was a baby, we put these down to normal baby cries. But she's 3 now, we get about one or two a week, and they're worse than ever.
It usually happens at night, when she's over-tired, but sometimes during the day. She'll wake up with a few cries, and won't be comforted. When I try to pick her up or cuddle her, she totally loses it. She screams, shouts "NO! GO AWAY!". Usually she just lies on the floor, banging herself about, but sometimes she runs round the house, hitting and screaming and throwing things. I reckon she's not really awake; she doesn't seem to recognise us, and will occasionally shout "You're not mummy! You're not daddy! Yeaaaargh!" bang splat thud.
It goes on for between 30 and 60 minutes. It's all that me and dp can do to keep her from hurting herself (or us!) - we certainly can't carry or cuddle her. Eventually she either hurts herself and snaps out of it, or starts crying an exhausted "normal" cry and we can pick her up and slowly comfort her.
During the day she's a lovely, smiley, social 3yo who loves her brother and draws cute pictures. (And sometimes cries over spilt yoghurt, missing teddies, etc. The usual.)
ds is 5 and had what I thought were "normal" tantrums and episodes; sometimes he'd push us away or fight, but it was nothing like this. I'm getting worried now that it'll go on forever; how do I deal with this when she's 5? 7? 13?
Sorry, long and rambling. Thanks for getting this far. Should I be concerned? Does this happen to others? Any advice on how to keep her safe and unharmed, or snap her out of it? Or should I just turn up The Apprentice and let her get on with it?