[Vicky.]

I know theres a lot of parents on here, and I am hoping (sorry!) that some of you might have been through this before. And as such might be able to help.

My daughter..appears to have been possessed by a demon. I am not even exaggerating either. All day everything is a huge tantrum, endless screeching for seemingly nothing. She used to sleep fine on a night and now we have a breakdown that quite literally lasts hours. last night we had a bunch of really high pitched screaming that woke James up (who is sleeping fine) and eventually she was making herself retch with all of the kicking off and we seemed to have no option but to bring her back downstairs...where she climbed into her carseat and dropped off immediately...woke a few times through the night but was relatively easy to settle. But this is NO good longterm.

I have no idea why this has happened. Nothing helps, not us lying with her, cuddling her, leaving her alone, sitting in her room but not near her, nothing at all.

It just seems to be screaming, all day, most of the night, with short breaks of maybe 20 mins or so inbetween it all. It is affecting James, as he sees her whining all of the time and copies...and I swear I am at the end of my tether with her...I am SO close to snapping it is unbelievable, and I know that would be the wrong thing to do but come on, its been over a week of this now and nothing is helping at all. Its got to the point where I have asked my mother to take her for a few days as I really can't deal anymore, I am still recovering from an operation and I feel on the brink of a breakdown to be quite honest. Me and Gavin both have constant headaches, James is becoming a nightmare because of what hes learning off his sister, and its just ****ing ridiculous.


To make everything worse, our health visitor arrived yesterday and was moaning about a bit of mess...saying that its a sign of neglect. I have today put in a formal complaint about her and have requested no further health visitor involvement.

So yeah, any suggestions would be appreciated greatly.

[Niamh.]

Oh what a nightmare Vicky. I have to say my two were really easy toddlers (thank God) so I have no advice based on experience. The first thing I was thinking though is could it be something in her diet? Apparently, kids diets can have a big effect on their behaviour?

Really unhelpful and unprofessional comment by the health visitor though

[Vanessa]

Originally Posted by Vicky.

I know theres a lot of parents on here, and I am hoping (sorry!) that some of you might have been through this before. And as such might be able to help.

My daughter..appears to have been possessed by a demon. I am not even exaggerating either. All day everything is a huge tantrum, endless screeching for seemingly nothing. She used to sleep fine on a night and now we have a breakdown that quite literally lasts hours. last night we had a bunch of really high pitched screaming that woke James up (who is sleeping fine) and eventually she was making herself retch with all of the kicking off and we seemed to have no option but to bring her back downstairs...where she climbed into her carseat and dropped off immediately...woke a few times through the night but was relatively easy to settle. But this is NO good longterm.
I have no idea why this has happened. Nothing helps, not us lying with her, cuddling her, leaving her alone, sitting in her room but not near her, nothing at all.

It just seems to be screaming, all day, most of the night, with short breaks of maybe 20 mins or so inbetween it all. It is affecting James, as he sees her whining all of the time and copies...and I swear I am at the end of my tether with her...I am SO close to snapping it is unbelievable, and I know that would be the wrong thing to do but come on, its been over a week of this now and nothing is helping at all. Its got to the point where I have asked my mother to take her for a few days as I really can't deal anymore, I am still recovering from an operation and I feel on the brink of a breakdown to be quite honest. Me and Gavin both have constant headaches, James is becoming a nightmare because of what hes learning off his sister, and its just ****ing ridiculous.


To make everything worse, our health visitor arrived yesterday and was moaning about a bit of mess...saying that its a sign of neglect. I have today put in a formal complaint about her and have requested no further health visitor involvement.

So yeah, any suggestions would be appreciated greatly.

I think maybe take her to her pediatrician? They may be able to help.

[Vicky.]

She isn't eating any differently to what she always has...everything I can think of that it could possibly be, it isn't :S

Nothing is helping, not being more strict, not giving her more attention, nothing at all. Its just screaming constantly. I refuse to leave her screaming to the point of making herself sick too..maybe this is the issue, maybe thats how to sort it out, but I disagree with that completely.

The health visitor is supposed to help with **** like this, not judge us on a few toys lying out?!

[Crimson Dynamo]

WHilst it would be impossible to try and work out what the issue is what I have found with all my lot is that things tend to be phases and sometimes you have to tough them out as best you can and they will pass.


On the downside of that advice when I used to tell ex-MrsLT "och its just a phase" she would not react well to that advice (even tho it was actually correct)

I guess its just trial and error with varying sleep, naps, food and attention as wll as some boundaries as to what is acceptable and what is not. You need to watch that you are not inadvertently rewarding this behavoir with attention.

This age 2-3 is not called the terrible twos for nowt and they can be the terrible 3's too

[Vicky.]

Originally Posted by Vanessa

I think maybe take her to her pediatrician? They may be able to help.

I tried to make an appointment this morning, there is nothing for 3 weeks..as ****ing usual. I cannot deal with this for another 3 weeks I really can't.

She has an appointment with the nurse this afternoon, but realistically, what is the nurse going to do that the GP couldn't a few days back :S

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Vicky.

She isn't eating any differently to what she always has...everything I can think of that it could possibly be, it isn't :S

Nothing is helping, not being more strict, not giving her more attention, nothing at all. Its just screaming constantly. I refuse to leave her screaming to the point of making herself sick too..maybe this is the issue, maybe thats how to sort it out, but I disagree with that completely.

The health visitor is supposed to help with **** like this, not judge us on a few toys lying out?!

Doesn't mean that she hasn't developed some sort of allergy or bad reaction to certain foods. I don't know though, as I said I don't have any experience of that sort of thing

[Vanessa]

Originally Posted by Vicky.

She isn't eating any differently to what she always has...everything I can think of that it could possibly be, it isn't :S

Nothing is helping, not being more strict, not giving her more attention, nothing at all. Its just screaming constantly. I refuse to leave her screaming to the point of making herself sick too..maybe this is the issue, maybe thats how to sort it out, but I disagree with that completely.

The health visitor is supposed to help with **** like this, not judge us on a few toys lying out?!

One of my nephews was like this. Quite the nightmare toddler. He used to throw plates of food everywhere. He seems better now finally.

[Vicky.]

Originally Posted by Joseph the Carpenter

WHilst it would be impossible to try and work out what the issue is what I have found with all my lot is that things tend to be phases and sometimes you have to tough them out as best you can and they will pass.


On the downside of that advice when I used to tell ex-MrsLT "och its just a phase" she would not react well to that advice (even tho it was actually correct)

I guess its just trial and error with varying sleep, naps, food and attention as wll as some boundaries as to what is acceptable and what is not. You need to watch that you are not inadvertently rewarding this behavoir with attention.

This age 2-3 is not called the terrible twos for nowt and they can be the terrible 3's too

I have tried telling myself its just a phase..thats how I have got through it all so far. But its been far too long now and I really do feel at somepoint soon I will end up in the nut house through all of it.

We got through her colicky stage fine, but that was just 4 hours of screaming everynight, then it stopped. Went on for like 2 months, but we always knew it would end by about 10pm. This does not stop. Ever.

[Crimson Dynamo]

Get a GP appointment and say that this is affecting your health

[Vicky.]

I tried to get a triage GP appointment today...as there are no GP appointments for 2 weeks, and no pediatrician ones for 3 weeks. GP rang me back and said I had to see the nurse. Which I can already see being quite useless...as has every nurse appointment I have ever had has been. infact they usually end with the nurse telling you to see the GP!

[erinp5]

When you leave her with your parents ...does her behaviour change ...is she more settled?

[Crimson Dynamo]

Originally Posted by Vicky.

I tried to get a triage GP appointment today...as there are no GP appointments for 2 weeks, and no pediatrician ones for 3 weeks. GP rang me back and said I had to see the nurse. Which I can already see being quite useless...as has every nurse appointment I have ever had has been. infact they usually end with the nurse telling you to see the GP!

Can you offload the wee one to a Grandparent for a day or two till you get a break?

[Vanessa]

It could be a food intolerance or allergy.

[Vicky.]

Originally Posted by erinp5

When you leave her with your parents ...does her behaviour change ...is she more settled?

Apparently she is. I took her to see them a couple of days ago and she was a completely different child :S

Originally Posted by Joseph the Carpenter

Can you offload the wee one to a Grandparent for a day or two till you get a break?

I have asked my mum about this..she needs to check her shifts but says it will be fine...not a good solution long term though

[Kizzy]

What a horrible thing to do! Does she know of your health problems?
I'd say wear her out she sounds a bit moth eaten because she's got a lot of nervous energy, my lad was the same.
keep her out of the house as much as you can, walk her legs off or send her round the house 'finding/fetching things'.
Delegate? get family and friends to take her out for an afternoon so you can have a break and she doesn't get sick of the sight of your/dads/brothers face.
Mums and tots? soft play area, you get a cuppa and a chat they get to run riot
creche, anywhere you can drop them off for an hour to give you both a break.

[Vicky.]

OK we have had 5 mins of quiet, and now Gavin going into the kitchen to make a cuppa has triggered another meltdown. ****ing ridiculous. I am starting to get angry with her when it starts now, which I know doesn't help but I can't help it, its just too ****ing intense, constantly...

[Crimson Dynamo]

Originally Posted by Vicky.

OK we have had 5 mins of quiet, and now Gavin going into the kitchen to make a cuppa has triggered another meltdown. ****ing ridiculous. I am starting to get angry with her when it starts now, which I know doesn't help but I can't help it, its just too ****ing intense, constantly...

dont worry, when they get in their 30s it gets a wee bit better

[Vanessa]

Try taking her to the park to play. That's what my sister does when my youngest nephew starts to play up.

[erinp5]

If she is settled with your parents then you know she is just playing up...sounds like she is pushing your boundaries...try giving her options...what you want her to do and something like stay and scream or go to time out ...both you and your partner need to be on the same page with the discipline.

[Vicky.]

Originally Posted by Merry Kizzmas

What a horrible thing to do! Does she know of your health problems?
I'd say wear her out she sounds a bit moth eaten because she's got a lot of nervous energy, my lad was the same.
keep her out of the house as much as you can, walk her legs off or send her round the house 'finding/fetching things'.
Delegate? get family and friends to take her out for an afternoon so you can have a break and she doesn't get sick of the sight of your/dads/brothers face.
Mums and tots? soft play area, you get a cuppa and a chat they get to run riot
creche, anywhere you can drop them off for an hour to give you both a break.

We do all of that already...its getting embarrassing to take her out in public at the moment too. You get people tutting on and whispering that you can't control your kid and that, and honestly, a couple of days back I was ready to kick the **** out of some toffee nosed twat who was loudly moaning on saying that children like Skye should be kept indoors where others don't have to put up with it.

She suddenly has a breakdown when we try to leave her at nursery too...everything sets this off.

[Vicky.]

Originally Posted by erinp5

If she is settled with your parents then you know she is just playing up...sounds like she is pushing your boundaries...try giving her options...what you want her to do and something like stay and scream or go to time out ...both you and your partner need to be on the same page with the discipline.

We do this too! And everytime we ask her stuff its 'NO!" no matter what the question and flailing herself around not giving an answer and just screaming.

I do think the daytime stuff is because she is so knackered from the nights...so if we could solve the nighttime issues the days would be better. But again, nothing we are doing is working and it seems to be getting worse, not better

[Livia]

My sister in law says that Calpol helps, but you have to drink the whole bottle.

Sorry you're having a rough time... and the health visitor is obviously in the wrong job.

[Vicky.]

Also don't think the speech delay helps as its frustrating her not being able to express herself fully. But again, theres a 16 week wait for speech therapy...we have waited 18 weeks now and still nothing...just keep getting told an appointment will come soon :S

[Cherie]

How old is James? It's really hard to say what it could be, is she okay at nursery? If it is just at home it could be jealousy of the baby creeping in and as LT says at that age they suddenly realise they can get their own way by screaming , its so difficult juggling an infant and a toddler, I feel for you Vicky, i would be inclined to speak to someone about how to manage it, dropping her off for a break is fine but if she is feeling jealous it may not be the answer, maybe you need to alternate and drop James off so you two have some proper time together