Son waking up in full blown temper tantrums

[Daisy123]

From what I hear this can be common about that age. Your son will most likely outgrow it soon. It's probably some discomfort that he can't vocalize in that not quite awake state. (wet, needs the bathroom, a leg is asleep...) Maybe try taking the blankets off of him or just freeing his feet before he wakes up. I've actually heard that this helps. See if he'll take a sip of juice right away- maybe his blood sugar is low. Other then that just be there for him which I'm sure you are. Hope it fixes itself soon!

[CrazyEight]

My son did EXACTLY the same thing...for a year and a half straight. At least 5 nights a week. Does your son only do this at naptime? Mine was ok napping generally, but woke up screaming any time between 10pm-2am, sometimes multiple times, and it could go on for hours. He was the same way....he'd yell incoherently and then start shrieking that he was thirsty, so I'd hand him his cup of water, and he'd throw it at me and continue yelling, screaming, and thrashing. He'd shriek that he'd want a hug, but if I tried, he'd punch me. He didn't actually want anything that he was yelling for, it seemed like he just wanted to yell. We tried leaving him-it went on for literally hours before we gave that up. We tried being firm with him, trying to hold him, giving in to what he wanted, refusing, etc etc. It was horrible, and his daytime behaviour was getting very aggressive.

Finally, when he was three, after a year and a half of this, he pushed over his newborn sister's stroller with her in it with ZERO provocation. She was strapped in and fine, but it was kind of a wake up call to finally ask for help. All of his behaviours were just so much MORE than what we had dealt with with our older daughter, and more than what we had seen with any other child. Our doctor referred us to a pediatric specialist, who recommended melatonin before bed. We weren't sure, and then children's mental health recommended the same thing. The smallest dose you can get, 3 mg, about 20 minutes before bed.

It totally turned it all around. He's now off the melatonin completely, and a different child. If he wakes up now (and most of the time he doesn't), he's logical and asks for something, ie, water, his stuffie, etc. Once he has whatever he needs it's a simple goodnight and he's back to sleep. It's unbelievable, the difference getting a good night's sleep made to his behaviour during the day. He's started school and is loving it, where at this time a year ago, I was worried about him possibly being on the Autism spectrum, or having another diagnosis.

Anyways, sorry for such a long explanation, but if this is happening at night, I'd suggest talking to your doctor about melatonin. It's an over-the-counter sleep aid, you don't need a prescription. I was really hesistant to give him anything, but after a year and a half, we were pretty much willing to try anything!

The only thing that sometimes lessened the length of his tantrums was taking him down to our basement playroom so he wouldn't wake up his sisters, and telling him we would come back to get him when he was quiet. The change in location, even though we put him on a couch with a blanket and his stuffie (because otherwise he'd just yell for it the entire time) seemed to get through to him a bit. It would still sometimes take a full hour before we could bring him back to bed, but if we tried to leave him in his room, or came back every 15 minutes or anything, it would just drag on forever. I know it might not be an option with the other children sleeping, but if you could remove him from his bed and put him somewhere else, it seemed to help a bit with my son.

Good luck, I feel for you!

[Elmokix]

I know this thread is already very old but....I'm really interested in the use of melatonin. We have the issues with our 3.5 year-old daughter. I would love to have the change you experienced. It's like having a newborn again but worse.

How long did you give him the melatonin? Were you worried that without it he would just go back to all the tantrums? This is my fear. I've also heard that some children get nightmares.

Thank you so much.

[ewiwoo]

I am glad someone else is interested as well. My ds 2.5yo is acting exactly as described by CrazyEight and I am just giving up now. I have a doctors appointment soon and to discuss my concerns.