hello all, i hope someone out there can help me because i am feeling really low and at the end of my tether.
dd1 has just turned 3, she is a really nice, active, bright and strongwilled little girl. has always had her fair share of tantrums but over the last 2-3 weeks things have really gone downhill, her tantrums have increased in frequency and most importantly in violence, she throws herself on the floor, starts screaming these throaty screams, refuses to move, cries desperately and scratches herself till she bleeds. I can't quite figure out what triggers them- sometimes it's something as tiny as giving her the "wrong" cereal, other times it's for something bigger such as not wanting to go to nursery. often the tantrums are started by her getting really really itchy, other times i think maybe the itchiness is a consequence of the tantrum... i just don't know. she's always suffered from eczema, but at the moment her skin just doesnt' seem so bad to me, well not bad enough to justify this extreme itchiness anyway.
she seems so nervous all the time, so on edge, so anxious and apathetic, never wanting to do anything or go anywhere, and she used to be such a happy energetic outgoing girl. i am in tears as i write this. the other thing is that i am finding harder and harder to cope with these temper tantrums, and often i find myself shouting at her, and sometimes i am afraid i will end up hitting her or hurting her which is awful, and afterwards i feel so guilty and ashamed, and of course i understand that we have a problem in our relationship, and i hurt for that too.
her sleep, whcih has never been great, is now worse than ever and she wakes up screaming and scratching several times per night.
what is wrong with her??? how do i get out of this vicious circle? i keep worrying something is really, really wrong in the medical or behavioural sense and i desperately need some reassurance. taking her to the gp this afternoon...