I know I've not been around much but I really need some help

[Lougle]

So DD has come home from school, and is WIRED. I mean seriously wired. She is hyper, overloaded. In itself not a big deal, except that I am on my own with 3 children under 5 (well DD1 turned 5 on Friday) and DD1 is biting, kicking, bouncing, climbing.

I need advice. What do I do? I can't put her in her room (climbs and has no sense of danger and is wobbly).

I currently have her strapped into her booster chair, which is strapped to the stairgate in the hallway, but can't do that for more than a few minutes. She isn't calming down.

Any ideas to get me through the next 2 hours, and keep all 3 children safe?

is there a way to keep dd2 and dd3 safe? could they be set up the otehr side of the stairgate with a DVD/toy of choice/puzzle? that owuld at least give you soem space to deal with dd1

do ou know why she is wired? hyper abut Christmas stuff? reaction to a food? did somehting happen at school that she is trying (in her own way) to process?

have you ever seen her like this before, and if so, what caused it/solved it?

could you bring teatime forward, so that she has something to occupy herself? is there anyhting she really really loves to do? and that normally she isn't allowed to? woudl you be able to do that with her while the other 2 watch a dvd?

wrap up and go for a walk? or a really deep bubbly bath with all 3 of them in it and don't stress abnout splashes? in fact get in there too.

other DDs the other side of the gate? music? DVDs?

Second the bath if that helps. I'm about to get in with Ds and DD. In fact bath time starts earlier every day, sometimes at lunch time as its the only thing which contains DS and he plays repetitively for the whole bath.

i loved those days when 2 or 3 baths would keep us going all day. wash the dolls clothes, use kitchen thins, blow bubbles. put the lights off and use a torch.dye the water with food colouring too. just don't let them drink it.

Thanks for all the advice. I don't know why she is like this today. It has been a hard weekend - two days off school with snow, her birthday which she seemed to cope well with.

She did have a cake sent in to school today (chocolate) so she could be hyped up because of the chocolate cake and extra 'special' attention.

Baths are a particular favourite, but when she is excitable she stands up and splashes and that is dangerous (wobbly on feet). Also, DD3 particularly (19 months) copies, so I would have 2 wobbly slippery ones and DD2 to keep safe.

I think an early tea with pasta and cheese might be the way forward. She loves both of those, and it meets some of her sensory needs, too.

I think the hardest thing is when the other two get excited by DD1's behaviour, it is like a forest fire

DD1 thrives on negative attention, which is hard not to give when she is behaving like she is - she is so relentless that there just isn't even an opportunity to break in, IYSWIM.

I must go, she is doing her second stint in the chair I got her out the first time, and she immediately got absolutely high on laughter and started kicking, biting etc. So back to the chair. I'll try again

TV/ computer? Always calms my son right down, to the point of sedation!

Lougle.. You answered your own question as to why ( I think).

Any chance of letting her pound it out on cushions?.. Chuck some on the floor and tell her to do it on or at the cushions not people?
Until she's got some of it out of her system.

Computer time? Drag a mattress downstairs and let them bounce on it a bit?

Lol, so you are all suggesting I can't beat it so join it, right?

Thanks for holding my hand - she has calmed and is eating her beloved pasta and cheese.

Star I wouldn't get cross with you I got the video camera out earlier but had to make a choice between protecting the DC and getting it on camera.

Trouble is school say she is OK there (but then I have overheard some of her behaviour that I don't call OK and they do IYSWIM when I have been to parents' coffee morning)

Glad she has calmed down now, Lougle.

Have you tackled schol abut the discrepancies in how you are both perceiving her behaviour?

:) glad the pasta is hitting the spot and she's calmed down...

It's a nightmare when they are like this.

Silverfrog - I've skirted around it at parents' evening. I said that they write such positive things in the HS book that I sometimes wonder if she should be at Special school at all. They say they like to give positive things to give parents a boost, so they will write the one positive thing they see, rather than the 20 negative, IYSWIM.

Her class in 3/4 boys (as is her school, and most SN schools in the UK, to be fair) and they have 2 or 3 very active boys who have no (obvious to me) physical issues. So compared to them, DD probably doesn't seem hyperactive.

I think that is the one downfall of a Special School - DD is being compared to other children with SN, not what is typical for her age. So the 'worry' bench mark is really high.

They don't have a problem with the amount of accidents she's having, either, because they say 'well a playground is busy, lots of children, she isn't having more accidents than her peers'. I say 'well she wasn't having that many at preschool, so to me, that means she needs more supervision.'

Star - don't worry, I am always thinking 'if only I had CCTV or a spare hand to secretly film it....'

Arsenic - A nightmare that you can't wake up from

Seriously, thank you all for answering, especially as I haven't been around much. I do lurk, just don't have much energy to post right now. Almost constant migraines are taking their toll.

Sensory issues, you say...

Playdough?
Get her to hide under the sofa cushions? (This works for DNiece, she likes people to sit on the cushions, too )
Sprinkling with rice/pasta/flour?

I have made DNiece a weighted blanket for Christmas - pale pink with a butterfly on, 100g for a 16kg child - will message you...

That's very kind of you, purplepidjbauble - DD has a weighted blanket which I made earlier in the year.

Sprinkling would be a good diffuser

Cool, how did you do yours? I've been using curtain weights but not sure how they'd wash, being made out of lead. I know you can use Polypellets, and was thinking could make 50g packets out of scrap material, then sew in. What do you reckon?

PS flour is messy, cornflour might be better. You can make Therapy putty out of 2 cups PVA glue and 1 cup liquid starch, but i haven't tested the recipe myself

Star

justabout, that is quite a good idea

Purplepidjbauble, I am going to have to dig my thread out, aren't I?

Hold on....

Weighted blanket (lou031205 was my old posting name, before I was renamed).

By the way, 100g for a 16kg child is WAY under weighted.

Weighted blankets should be 10% body weight plus 1lb (454g) so a 16kg child should have a 2.054 kg blanket (that is the weight of the blanket itself and the beads within it, and any padding you use to make it cosy).