Hi,
I’ve been wanting to post about my 22-month old DS for some time.
Since he was born up until now, his temperament has presented as very challenging. As a baby, he was very unsettled from the start. He screamed and cried a lot of the day. I noticed I was finding it harder to get out and about compared to the mums in my antenatal group with their babies.
From then on, I feel there hasn’t been much respite from the screaming and crying. Each month has felt like a challenge.
Some of his traits / experiences:
- He is extremely obsessive - e.g. we went through a phase where he was obsessed with buckles and we weren’t able to take him out in his pushchair anymore as all he wanted to do was play with them.
- He is extremely emotional and sensitive - eg. if we are manouvering the cars on the drive or one of us leaves the room, he will think someone is leaving and start screaming. My mum has to sneak out the door when she leaves as he finds it too traumatic to see her leave.
- Often he will start screaming and crying but we won’t know the cause at all- e.g. some days he just doesn’t like the look of the cat.
- I think he is bright, e.g. he can correctly identify and name colours, numbers 1-10 and most letters. He has lots of words and is starting to put them together.
- He makes lots of eye contact, engages, loves cuddles and has made a friend at nursery - he likes to be around other children.
- Recently he has started having epic temper tantrums when leaving somewhere and/or going in his car seat. He usually loves coming home from nursery but randomly yesterday he wouldn’t get in the car at all. He was almost choking and his face changing colour, it was so severe. I sat in the backseat with him holding his hand and felt so bad for him. We have this scale of tantrum at least once a day at the moment. This scale of tantrum started about a week ago.
- He sleeps and eats well.
I know a lot of this sounds normal for toddlers and I do expect tantrums but his emotional tolerance seems so low. I feel like we’re always walking on egg shells with him and can’t enjoy normal experiences - eg. if we’re at the park, I start dreading when it’s time to leave and how he’s going to react. I can’t help but to compare to other toddlers his age who seem fairly easy going most of the time.
I just have this strong feeling his reactions are not typical but don’t know what it could be and how best to support him. I am a very gentle and loving parent. His nursery are holding him back a month before transitioning into the bigger room as they say his emotions are very up and down and they struggle to know what is wrong sometimes - so I know it’s not just me and he is more emotional than most.
I feel worried for my DS and our family as the emotions and tantrums are starting to make daily life feel very difficult.
Does anyone else have any experiences?