Early terrible twos?

Question

my son is 1. lately, he has been extremely grouchy. his new thing is playing with cabinet doors. we put locks on them and now he can't open and close them. he gets very mad at this and will scream and cry for hours. he also screams and crys every time you aren't holding him. he will not eat very much or take a bottle. he throws food, toys, cups, anything he can get his hands on. he's hitting people. he won't feed himself. he'll only eat if you feed him. he crys when you take something away from him he shouldn't have. he doesn't talk much, only says "mama, dada, and ball," so there is no way to know why he is unhappy (he can't tell me). he won't play by himself, he has to have some kind of attention. he wasn't like this until about 1 month ago. does this sound like the terrible two's coming on early? a friend of mine said he son went through the terrible twos at 13 months. 1 year old just seems a little early to me.

Answer 1

my son was/is exactly the same way. he was such an easy baby to take care of, but from almost the day he turned 1, he started throwing fits and tantrums and screaming and crying way more than he ever had before. he's now 17 months and still going through it, although i think i'm getting a little better at dealing with his temper. there's not a whole lot you can do other than to try to have patience with him, and encourage him to use speech or signs to indicate what he wants rather than crying or screeching. i wholeheartedly agree that if you feel he would benefit from early intervention, you should contact your state's office. the service is provided at absolutely no cost to you, and can continue until age 3. it may be very helpful in getting your son to express himself in a more "acceptable" way. i think a lot of why kids this age are so cranky and bad-natured is that they can't make themselves understood. it seems to me that when they develop the ability to communicate with their parents, the tantrums ease up a bit.

good luck!

Answer 2

<---------- Yes, my son here started all that at around 14 months old. He could through the most unbelievable tantrum for such a small child, and the temper! I have never seen such a mean, nasty attitude! He would get mad at his brothers, bite, push, punch them! It was horrible. He is a little better now he is 2 and can talk a bit more, but yes, he is still a very demanding, "drama queen". I call him that as little things going wrong seems to set him right off!

So rest assured you are not alone there. It is hard, isn't it, having such demanding kids, but know it will hopefully improve as his ability to communicate gets better. A lot of it is frustration in the inability to tell you what he wants. They don't know limits (why must they find the need to play with things they are not allowed to have, when they have heaps of toys???!!!) and are so inquisitive at that age. Bear with it, as he gets older a simple time out for this behaviour may be beneficial.

Good luck!

Answer 3

(snicker)

So here's something moms don't tell other women before they have babies. Terrible Twos are kind of an approximate...like they can start at one and go to age 4. Seriously though, once babies/kids can start to exert independence (11 mos.-ish) and are still unable to verbalize their wants/needs/desires/dislikes/etc.-- that's when the Terrible Twos start.

They want so much to DO things but cannot express what it is they want and if you tell them 'no' they feel the frustration of not being able to express that they WANT to do whatever it is that you don't want them to do. Sadly, with my first daughter this started at 11 mos. (and she was a mild case compared to my second one...wowza) but with some understanding on your part (try to understand and ask/talk to him about what is making him sad "Hungry? Are you hungry?" or "Outside? You want to go to the park?", etc.) eventually  will come to a common ground.

Check out 'Happiest Toddler on the Block' and see what you think. Some moms love the philosophy and swear by it. I found some things useful, some things not so much. If this book doesn't do it for you there is certainly one out there that might give you some poitners on making this transition smooth without losing your marbles.

Best of luck to you!

Answer 4

thats what it sounds like. My daughter started acting this way at 18 months. I have learned from not only experiance but from other parents that the terrible twos dont usually start right at age two, but they last for 2 years...hence why its called terrible twos/

Answer 5

sounds like it to me. Dont give in, let him feed himself, he will eat if he is hungry enough. And if he starts screaming and throwing a tantrum, ignore it, but some earplugs. My daughter is 22 months but started going thru this stage at 19 months. Good Luck, it's a tough time!

Answer 6

Some of that sounds typical - but other parts of what you describe might be red flags to seek early intervention services. I do not know where you live but- you may want to look into an early intervention evaluation. Most states have programs to help children under the age of 3 with delays or areas of concern. Some areas would be speech therapy, occupational therapy, developmental therapy and or physical therapy. The screenings are ususally done at no cost - so ask your pediatrician about early intervention sevices in your state - (or do a yahoo search with early intervention and (your states name) and see what comes up) I have 2 kids - who are very normal now -- who benefited in a huge way from EI servcices -- the earlier you start -- the more it helps!! Good Luck! I hope this info helps!

Answer 7

Same with my 15mnth old daughter, it might be a good sign i suppose? They are intelligently advanced?

We'll have to wait and see!

Id say we both have a case of it on our hands!

Good luck!

Answer 8

That sounds like my two year old daughter perfectly!!!!!

It drives me nuts! lol

But I love her

Answer 9

agreed with hurkamurk. my daughter is 18 months now and is going through them. fun, huh?

Answer 10

It is very possible for them to start this early. As for tantrums, I'd ignore them. As for throwing things and hitting, firmly tell him "NO", and remove him from the situation, and direct his attention elsewhere and teach him something nicer if you haven't done this already. Some of the other behavior might be worth noting to your pedi.

Oh, and I've even heard of it starting at as young as 10 months. Notice any irony there?