SErious tantrums at 16 months

[Cottoneyed12]

Is it normal? I thought she was far too young. A few weeks ago she was and always as been so pleasant and happy. But her trantrums have started and it’s concerning. And draining. I’m a SAHM and I feel like crying by 8am.

This morning she got up we played then it was breakfast time but she wanted peppa on ( I try to limit tv time to when I’m cooking dinner) but because I wouldn’t put it on she had 20 minutes of screaming, throwing herself on the floor, kicking and throwing her food and drink everywhere.

It’s only just started but is it normal this young and how do I deal with it? OH said just put peppa on then! But I think it just encourages this behaviour if I put peppa on. She wouldn’t stop and eventually I had to show her photos of herself on my phone and she gradually calmed down.

Help!

All of mine started something similar at a similar age. Peppa pig was very often the culprit too!
I think you did absolutely right in not giving in and distracting her out of it. Yes it is draining. Having quite a rigid timetable helped mine - Ie only ever telly in the evening and they stop asking about it in the morning.

Mine did also tantrum at age 2 onwards and it had a bit of of a different quality. In this case your dd wanted telly, didn’t get it and got upset. When the ‘proper’ tantrums started it was more a case of ‘asks for telly, gets telly, inexplicably flings self on the floor wailing anyway!’ Ie the hallmark of 2 year old tantrums is total, ridiculous irrationality.

The things I can can say are that being consistent helps as does distraction. Also tiredness, hunger, teething and feeling under the weather all contribute to small children having a short fuse. Make sure she is well fed and napped and sometimes if they are unusually grouchy I do try a dose of calpol or teething gel if any new teeth emerging to see if mood improves. Sometimes it does help and then you know they were in pain or feeling unwell. When they are little and they do not have a fever, sometimes it’s the only way you know. At that age I recall quite a lot of tiresome behaviour that improved dramatically with calpol or teething gel.

Yup very normal
Mine started this at 13 months.
She's two in a couple weeks and tbh she's worse .

Yikes, don't listen to your DH! That's a sure fire way to teach her that throwing a wobbly gets her what she wants.

My DD is just a little older and I find that sometimes she gets a bit like this if there's something big developmentally going on. Don't know if it tires her out or something, but she definitely has a shorter rope if she's having some sort of leap.

It sounds like you're doing all the right things and PPs have great advice. I find the Penelope Leach book good on this and return to the bit about tantrums if I need help to get through it.