My son is a dinosaur. Help?!?!

[Spuddle]

My 1yo DS has discovered his screaming vocal chords. If he doesn't get his way (ie I take something off him he shouldn't have, he's hungry or thirsty, or I'm just not doing what he wants me to etc) he screams which varies from a deep gutteral dinosaur velocorapter(ah la Jurassic Park) like shriek/scream to a high pitched screetch.

Nothing I do seems to help. I've told him off, smacked him, given him a timeout, shrieked back. Nothing stops him from doing it. I have also tried ignoring him and that doen't seem to make much difference either. I'm at my wit's end! I get sympathetic looks from other mums and nasty dirty looks from childless professional women and men. It's driving me bonkers!! Please, can anyone help me?!!

[feeb]

Hugs hun my son can let out a massive high pitched scream when he doesnt get own way or what he wants.

We have tryed ignoring him, telling him off. Have come to conclusion that he will grow out of it I know its hard to ride these things out but wil get easier,

[kitten2b]

I can sympathise, my little brother used to have this dying cow sound and it was just horrible and so embarassing, it did stop though.

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

My son doesn't just tantrum this noise - it's a great game too!

But when he's upset because of my actions, I hold him. I tell him "you're upset because Mammy did this." I tell him why I did it (eg today I took the glass of water away because I had wanted to drink from it; DS shouldn't put his hands in it; it isn't water-play time it's nearly dinner time. We do water play outside or in the bath, so DS shouldn't be splashing on the dining table. I'm not apologising for taking the water away. I know you're upset because you liked playing with the water, but Mammy and Daddy need drinks not playing. We'll calm down now and eat dinner.)

Took him about five minutes to calm down, during which time he was told he was loved and the food was nice... but that was a BAD tantrum from a very tired toddler. Normally he's calmed down within a minute. Tantrums are just about making their feelings heard - if you hear them, it does work pretty well in my experience.

Just like us, toddlers like to control their environment. A sudden change, for example a toy being removed or suddenly leaving the park, distresses them. It distresses me when DH wants me to leave somewhere with no warning. But their linguistic and mental skills aren't up to dealing with it, so they melt down. That's why we need to verbalise their feelings and validate them - but not give in to them.

HTH.