How do I get a hold of my two year olds tantrums?

Question

I am a single mom of two. When I got divorced last year, I started a bad habit with my oldest son. I started to let him sleep in the bed with me. And after I had the baby, the baby took over the crib. And now that I am dating, it has become a real problem. I now have to lay with him to get him to go to sleep. Last night I layed with him for 2 hours and he still didn't fall asleep. And then if he gets to worked up, he throws up. I have to be home at bedtime cuz he won't go down for the sitter. How do I break this habbit! I need all the help I can get. He also has been screamin and throwin himself down on the ground. Any help?

Answer 1

Smack him on the butt and let him know it's not ok to act like that.

Answer 2

Start a bedtime ruitual before he goes to bed and a reward when he wakes up. He is just using you for the attention. Stay with it and night after night it will get easier. Don't give in no matter what and don't get angry. Just like any habbit, it too will pass. Do the 1-2-3 magic techniques then a time-out...this gives him time to change the behavior. Never put them in your bed, bad habbits die hard and even harder to break. Good Luck.....stay HAPPY! I've been there...I was a single mom of 3 boys...you can do it!!

Answer 3

As hard as it is, you have to ignore him. He will realize that he is getting nowhere. Hitting won't work and you sure can't reason with a 2 year old. At bedtime, create a routine (your babysitter can do this too), do a nice warm bath, read a story and then go to bed. Tuck him in and say goodnight. If he gets up, walk him or pick him up if you have to, back to bed. If he throws a tantrum, walk out.

I did this with each of my two children. Both through exactly one tantrum each.

Bottom line - you are the parent and you are in control. You don't have to be mean about it, but you do have to be firm.

Answer 4

I think that if he doesn't already have his own bed, you should get him one. Then ease the transistion for him. If he starts to cry, maybe sit next to his bed while he falls asleep. He needs to have some comfort when he is away from you. You are his security blanket. When my daughter use to cry for me I understood it was just because I gave her comfort and I just needed to reinstate that comfort in a different way when she is alone in her bed. My 2 year old girl got her own big girl bed when she was 18 months. She use to sleep with me also, and the bed was getting a little to crowded as she got older. She liked to sleep in the bed, but had to fall asleep with me first. When she would wake up without me she would just fall back asleep. She likes that she has her big girl bed like her mom. And now when she is feeling sleepy she will even go lay herself down and fall asleep on her own.

Answer 5

First off, its perfectly normal for your 2 yr old to be acting like this. He sees it as someone is taking his mommy away from him. Sit him down and explain it to him, you would be surprised where that gets you. Secondly, do not lay with him anymore, as I learned while my daughter was growing out of things, ie, sleeping in the same bed with mommy, pacifers and bottles, it will take 3 nights to get over things.
As for the temper tantrums, ignore him and this is how I was able to do so.....
Ignore the child for 5 minutes, then go in and comfort them for 1 minute but do not pick them up or hold them! Just comfort them by rubbing their back and being extremely calm with them...then if they continue after you leave if they continue, let it go on for 7 minutes, then again go in and comfort them. And so on and so forth, just keep adding onto the time.
After awhile they get the hint that your not going to come rushing to them everytime they scream.
With this system it took me about 4 days to get my daughter to sleep without having to rock her or stay in with her until she went out.
Good luck and if I find the books name where I got all of this info from years ago I will definately edit my answer!