temper

Lorraine - posted on 05/31/2010

Both my 4 year old son ad my 2 year old daughter hold their breathe when they have a tantrum, my health visitor told me to breathe into their mouth so they would breathe and then just ignor them. It has helped for me and the tantrums are stopping.
Good luck, Lorraine

Geneviève - posted on 05/26/2010

My daughter (2) doesn't hold her breath but she throws tantrums that can last 10-15 minutes. I've noticed, that the more I try to talk to her, the worst the tantrum gets. So now, I just ignore her and within 2-3 minutes it's over and she's on to do something else.

Jolijn - posted on 05/26/2010

When my son starts throwing a tantrum we give him a time out and put him on the stairs which seems to work for him. He doesn't hold his breath but I heard from my mother in law that my husband used to do that too when he got really angry. She said the only thing that worked is to give him a time out or ignore him. It was really hard to do because she was worried he would suffocate.So I do understand it is really scary and I would worry too but a time out was the only thing that worked. Good luck!! Hope this helps. Jolijn

Renee - posted on 05/22/2010

I wish my son only held his breath...My son is a head banger. He got so bad we took him to a behavioral specialist because we thought something more was wrong with him. He was leaving huge bruises on his head and goose eggs. His knuckles were bruised from hitting his head too. He would bang his head on the wood and concrete floors, window ledges, coffee tables, walls, etc. We had done the ignoring, time outs, trying to figure out what was wrong, helping him figure things out that he couldn't do with his toys, etc.
We ended up padding the side rails of a play pen and putting him in there when he would start to bang his head. This way he couldn't hurt himself (as much) and confined to one place. We would then walk out of the room and let him have his fit. Some days it took only a min or 2 for him to calm other days he was in there for over 15min. out for 5min and right back in again. We found that sticking strictly to a schedule and consistent with the discipline it got better. Now some times I just have to ask him if he needs a timeout and he will stop, other times he will say "yeah" he needs a timeout and will go to the play pen himself.
My biggest suggestion is PATIENCE PATIENCE and more PATIENCE!!!

Tracey - posted on 05/21/2010

I know its hard to do. But when my two year old starts throwing a temper tantrum. And lately that is pretty often. I walk out of the room. He stops crying and flailing. Sometimes he follows us and as soon as he sees us he throws himself back down and starts screaming again. And we leave the room again. It will be hard the first couple of times but it has worked pretty well for us. You have to let them know that this is not the proper way to get your attention. Good luck. Let me know how it goes.
Tracey