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Tantrums in Eight Year Old


zeldazonk

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My 8 year old has always been extremely emotional and a fussy eater. She found Melb lockdown really hard and that seemed to have made things worse.


Recently she has been throwing terrible tantrums. They can be whenever she is asked to do something she doesn't want to do, but they are particularly bad if she is unhappy with what we cook for dinner. Tonight's was the worst so far - screaming, kicking, throwing furniture, hurting her siblings etc. It went on for over an hour too. And it was food she has eaten happily before!


We are trying to get an appointment for a child psychologist, but in the meantime has anyone else been through anything similar and do you have any advice on how I can deal with this (and stay sane)? Thank you!

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My 8 year old has always been extremely emotional and a fussy eater. She found Melb lockdown really hard and that seemed to have made things worse.


Recently she has been throwing terrible tantrums. They can be whenever she is asked to do something she doesn't want to do, but they are particularly bad if she is unhappy with what we cook for dinner. Tonight's was the worst so far - screaming, kicking, throwing furniture, hurting her siblings etc. It went on for over an hour too. And it was food she has eaten happily before!


We are trying to get an appointment for a child psychologist, but in the meantime has anyone else been through anything similar and do you have any advice on how I can deal with this (and stay sane)? Thank you!

 

My child is younger, but does have extreme meltdowns. I would suggest a couple of things. First up, make sure she is not too hungry before dinner (a big afternoon tea). Try and encourage some outside time or something relaxing.


Those are things you can do easily. But definitely the psych. My daughter has more extreme meltdowns when she is very anxious

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Princess Peach

Is she on any medication?


Check the side effects. It was only by accident that I discovered my son’s asthma preventative (Fl ix o to de) was the cause of his epic tantrums. It’s not one of the main side effects, which is why we never connected the dots.

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Yes, DS10 was about 8 when this became an issue for us. The child psychologist we saw was useless and we have since seen a few different professionals including a child psychiatrist.


Educational psychologist assessment said no ADHD, We are on a waitlist for a paed who is good with mental health. I think it is anxiety and depression.


As to how to cope, I don’t very well. he is irritable at best and very uncooperative. At school, one of the best behaved in the class but very quiet. Flies under the radar. This happened around a transition to a new school so I think the stress of that triggered it.

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Did she actually eat the food which she was unhappy with? Could she be ‘hangry’? (My friends used this term to describe my son).


My son used to throw absolutely terrible tantrums until he was about four. His behaviour vastly improved once he became articulate & could communicate to me what he wanted, but he would still get very surly when hungry and settle as soon as he had a full meal. He also said that snacks high in carbs & sugar made him feel worse so he likes to eat meals high in protein, vegetables & complex carbs (we were at my friend’s place when he was about 12 and he started getting surly and asking for food - she offered cakes & biscuits and he turned them down, so she offered leftovers from her previous dinner and he wolfed it down - 15 mins later he was apologising, thanking her & complimenting her cooking - she couldn’t believe his ‘instant transformation’).

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