16 months old midnight tantrum???

[ameliebob]

Ok I'm very confused as I'm typing it's been 2 hours of crying and screaming, it's 1 am and my other baby will probably wake soon for her first night feed.

First, why they call it terrible two if it's starts sooner than two??? Argh
Ok seriously, how do you deal with tantrums in the middle of the night? Today was not a night terror. He has no milk at night and falls asleep 100% independlty. He's not teething either although we gave him Tylenol after 15 min of crying as we were so confused about this strange night waking. Every time we left the room he started screaming.

[Katet]

He may have had an upset stomach or teeth moving under the gums, or pressure on his ears.

TBH there will be a reason, just pretty hard to work out when they aren't very verbal.

 

First, why they call it terrible two if it's starts sooner than two??? Argh

Terrible twos are a bit different from a night time upset & even though it went on for 2 hours I'd not call it a tantrum, a tantrum is more about something like them not being able to wear shorts on a cold day etc, I do think if they fall asleep independently etc then there could be lots of reasons, like a sudden noise waking them & them being frightened of it.

Also some medications are best not given on an empty stomach & I know with my DS1 we had a horror night after giving medication for pain & him being up half the night... I've never used Tylenol, but I'm pretty sure it's not the best on an empty stomach, so that could be a big part of the problem & it was the upset stomach that kept him upset.

[HenaV]

I agree with Katet. This doesn't sound like a tantrum to me, but more like pain/discomfort. Has there been any improvement? Was it a one off?

Hena

[ameliebob]

I Still dont know what it was for... We soothed him as best as we could but the crying started every time we left. Could like a sort of separation anxiety? I refused to bring him to bed with us cuz I'm afraid that's what he will expect after that.

[Katet]

If it hasn't repeated It sounds like it could have been a really bad dream that frightened him or something like that. It's important (although hard) to remember that much as we might feel like they are trying it on, children are much more basic than that, they get upset because they can't cope & an awful lot of the time in parenting you don't always work out the whole reason until later (or never) but they really are just 'doing the best they can'