Tantruming Toddler!!

[Charl1009]

Hoping for some advice or words of wisdom as I am exhausted! My DS is 17mo and has suddenly turned into a different child, the tantrums are non stop! He was always such a happy content baby 😩
I thought we would have a good few months until they started as he still seems so young? He can be playing and then all of a sudden he will scream and sob and throw himself on the floor for what seems like no reason, he has recently learnt no too which is his favourite word, everything is no and he will stomp off into a corner and sulk too.

He is at nursery 2 and a half days a week and they say he is such a lovely well behaved little boy and doesn’t do this when he’s there.

Hoping (praying) this is just a short phase, has anybody else had experience of tantrums this young?

Yup! This is peak frustration time. He's realised there are literally thousands of things he could be doing/eating/seeing/saying and he's incapable of 95% of them, and it gives him the rage. It'll get a bit better as he learns to talk and becomes more physically able, and then IME it gets worse again around age 2 or 3 as they develop a lot more wilfulness.

At this age, lots of cuddles and distractions are your best bet. I think I said "look, a squirrel" about 90 times a day when DD was this age.

Yep, a phase and it will pass. Distraction as suggested can help.

Distraction helps.
with my son I’d ask him if he’s finished and he’d be so focused on answering that he’d stop and go on to the next thing.
when they can talk more and tell you what they want it gets better

Totally normal. I don’t agree with those who say it will soon pass, in my experience this is your life for at least a year, probably more.

I recommend doing some reading up on why they do this as this will give you sympathy and help with patience. I also recommend the podcast Unruffled.

Thanks all for your replies, looks like I’ll have to ride this out for the next year 😩 I will definitely keep trying with the distractions, it’s so difficult in the moment when he has a tantrum as I do end up getting stressed and flustered especially when it’s in public… I feel like any days out or nice activities we do are ruined by the tantrums!

Will give the podcast a listen thanks for the recommendation @pjani

If it helps my 19 month old loves a good tantrum but a couple of months ago my god it was like he was possessed! All day! Think it was teething mixed with trying to communicate more and being annoyed he couldn’t (the heatwave didn’t help)
he’s much better now, so as much as I agree to get used to tantrums it could just be a short phase as somethings bothering him ☺️
big little feelings on Instagram are good too for advice on how to deal with them.