20 month old dd - ill? or 'terrible twos' or what?

[happynappies]

My dd has, in retrospect, always been fairly calm and placid, albeit strong-willed and determined. We've been away for two weeks, at the end of which we all (dh, dd and me) got bad colds)... Now back home, and I'm wondering if someone swapped our dd en-route from Devon - I feel terrible describing her like this because I love her to pieces, but at times she behaves like a wild animal! She thrashes around, slaps, hits, kicks, bites - all behaviours which are new this week. She had the most almighty 'tantrum' at lunch-time. As soon as I put her in her highchair she started thrashing her head from side to side screaming, so I calmly removed her and she proceeded to scream on the floor for about 35 minutes non-stop. I tried to hold her, to distract her, to offer her a drink - to no avail. I don't recognise her anymore, and these episodes are growing in intensity and frequency, and the rest of the time I feel like I'm stepping on eggshells trying to avoid setting her off. She is full of cold, but could there be something else wrong? I know I could take her to the GPs but I really don't know whether they'd give me time of day - "My toddler is having tantrums"... hmm... She's also stopped bf this week of her own accord which has been quite upsetting as she outright refuses and gets upset. Does anyone know if this is a stage/phase etc, or recognise the 'wild' behaviour as something else? I'm terrified to leave the house with her at the moment, and feel at my wits end at home, crying every day and frightened that I'm not coping. Help!!

oh poor dd and poor you!

She just sounds really under the weather to me. It is probably the cold making her like this, and maybe tiredness from the holiday - routines usually go out the window a bit on holiday don't they and just that few hours less sleep etc can make a big difference. The fact that she has suddenly stopped bfing as well makes me think it's to do with feeling unwell.

Give it another week, she may be alot calmer etc

But yes of course she is coming to an age where tantrums will happen....if she is slapping, hitting and biting during them then I'd have no hesitation in putting her in her room for a minute; she needs a clear boundary that we don't do that. However, other than that don't get too worried by her tantrums, they really do ALL have them and there is not much you can do - so take the pressure off yourself, you can't stop her; only she can do that, in her own time. If you don't feed them with attention they stop alot quicker IMO.

are you giving calpol or similar quite regularly?

Hi HG - I've been giving her Medised which helped with her blocked nose, but only gave it her once before bedtime for a couple of nights... never sure about dosing her up, do you think I should give her more?

totally personal choice, but when I have a stinking cold I find it REALLY helps with the aching bones/head to take something and if I feel bad I take something every four hours or as often as allowed! I don't PERSONALLY see why kids should be different but you may feel strongly about not too much painkiller...If ds was full of cold, I would certainly give him calpol every four hours during the day, to the maximum allowed.