Dealing with Tantrums - 11 month old.

I was warned about the terrible two's...

Even the terrible three's...

I was even warned about toddler tantrums....

But baby tantrums? Gah!

Today we learnt to have a baby tantrum. So we practiced our new talent.. about fifteen times. 

One time he was cuddling his dad, and he wanted to get down.. but went from happy to hitting his head and screaming within a second! The most common is when he gets his nappy changed. 

We use to change his butt every hour. Noooway now. He kicks and screams and pushes off with his legs, I hate nappy change time now!

He use to be really good if he had something naughty and we said 'ta'. He gave it up no worries. Not anymore. It's a tight grasp and he tries to hide it. When we do get it off him he throws his head back and starts screaming!

Baby tantrums are a bit different to toddler tantrums and need to be dealt with a bit differently..

How are we dealing with this new talent?

Daddy calming Jydan

-As strange as it sounds.. comfort! Reassuring, letting him know we are listening, letting him know we care, giving him fred, cuddles, kisses and his favourite songs. 

A minute after his tantrum!

-Not giving in. If it's something he's aloud to have, he can when he's calm. But if it's because something has been taken off him.. sorry buddy, but you won't be getting your way.

-If it's due to a toy, the toy gets removed out of sight. 'Out of sight, out of mind'

-Keeping in mind that he is doing it because he can't communicate what he wants.. he is frustrated, so we are not getting frustrated with him. Staying calm!

-Understanding that he doesn't understand what's going on, that he can't communicate properly and that he will soon calm down.

-Putting ourselves in his shoes - imagining we are in a foreign country and can't understand anyone and no one can understand us.. we can't communicate what we want no matter how hard we try. How frustrating.

-Ignoring the behaviour but not the child. We are with him and trying to calm him, but we are ignoring the fact that he is having a tantrum. When he is calm, then we address the behaviour. We don't say 'no hitting' when he's tantruming, we say 'no hitting' when he is finished. The idea is try and calm him down.. and he's much more likely to listen when he's calm.

Straight after another tantrum

-Oh and taking photos for this blog post : P.

Hope that helps someone!