Tantrums at 6 Months?

My son used to do that, and he's 3 now. It means he knows what he wants, but 6 mos is too young for any sort of discipline. Just put up with it and over time, as he gains more understanding of the world, gently explain to him to "use his words" instead of making tantrums. But 6 mos is too young to really worry about it yet.

J.,

this is a link to a couple that have a "ministry" for families. they have lots of articles about discipline. read them.

http://www.nogreaterjoy.org/index.php?id=1

hope this helps.

E.

Wow, everyone has something different to say. At 6 mos. a baby is just learning to express himself with sounds other than cries. My daughter did this really frightening sound where she would breath really fast and heavy through her nose. She did it when she was frustrated and excited. But the bad part was, it would alarm people near by us. Eventually as she learned to make other sounds, she quit. Its not a tantrum, more of a reaction. Don't worry, when you see a full blown tantrum, and you will, you will know exactly what it is. In the mean time when your son makes these sounds, talk to him and give words for his feelings, "Is Mommy taking to long? Are you frustrated" or "That's really exciting isn't it!" The more you talk to him, even though it just feels like jabbering at the wall, the faster he will learn words and command of language. Good Luck.

I wouldn't worry about tantrums at that age. There's a reason why the terrible 2's happen and that's when children start to differentiate between what they want and what they need. Until your baby reaches a year old, he can't even comprehend that you exist without him. :-)

Don't worry about "spoiling" him until around 12 - 15 months.

ok im probably going to get some flack for this.. But ignore a 6 month old. are you kidding me ??? I have 3 kids and my youngest is 6 months old.. I would never never never ignore her.. When a baby cries its because they need something.. When they screech or yell its because they are learning they have a voice and how it sounds.. My 6 month old makes sounds.. she gets mad.. ( like when you strap her in the car seat.. she hates it.. she grunts.. and clenches her fists.. But she still needs to go in the car seat.. I tell her every time, I know you dont like this.. but if mommy doesnt strap you.. you will get hurt, and I go about strapping her in.. Like another mom said, everyone wants a well mannered child but a 6 month old is not a child. They are babies, they can not tell you what is wrong, you have to figure that out, like you said if your baby is waiting for food he makes a sound.. its because hes hungry, thats not spoiled, thats a hungry child.. waiting for mommy to feed him, babies dont know what patience is, or how to entertain themselves, that is things that come with age.. When my daughter is fussy and im doing something, I move her to something else.. from chair, to floor, from floor to play pen ect.. Remember how would you feel to be in the same spot for awhile and not be able to move yourself.. Yes its time comsuming, yes you have to stop what your doing, but one day they will walk and they will be able to do it themselves.. I dont consider my daughter spoiled I call her 6 months old.. and I am a stay at home mom with 3 kids and I homeschool my oldest too. Good Luck to you.

Ignore, ignore, ignore. Don't give him eye contact, go on about what you are doing and ignore his fits. The more attention you give him, even negative attention, the more rewarding it is. The best thing he can see is that his tantrum has absolutely no affect.

When he gets older you can remove him from you. If he is in your lap put him in the floor for example. When he is around 2 1/2 you can put him in his room with the door open and explain, "This is where you go when you need to be angry. Cool off and then come talk to me and I will try to help you."

The key to all of it is you not complying or jumping through hoops to make him happy(unreasonable hoops that is). No one else in the world will do it for him, so he doesn't need to get the impression that that is how things work out.

We had a high need baby and made the mistake of catering and now at 2 we are paying for it. It is alot harder to break a bad habbit at 2 than it is to start a new one at 6 mos.

Hi, J.. I know exactly what you mean in wanting a well-mannered, unspoilt child. I'm the same way. And, I have to say, that for the most part, my husband and I have managed it, because we receive compliments about our children's behavior from other people at least twice a week. I'm not bragging - I'm just saying you will have it, if you want it. That being said, your son is perfectly (age-appropriate) normal, doing what he's doing. He's expressing himself the only way he knows how. The fact that he is smiling at you when you respond shows that he's proud of himself...after all, he's learning to communicate! He makes that noise, and mommy talks to him - how cool is that?! And please, please don't listen to those that say you should ignore him. He is far too young for that. A baby whose needs are not met becomes a manipulative child and adult. Maybe try chattering to him when he starts that, so that he knows you are listening to him. And the suggestion that you model another sound for him to try was a good one. Keep loving him as you already do, and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy! He is growing so fast! One last note - as for the one who said you WILL see a tantrum from him when he gets older........neither of my children ever threw a tantrum. Personality, perhaps, I don't know...but I do know from experience that some children don't, and perhaps yours won't either. I've worked with children in one capacity or another for 35 years, have a 5 yo girl & 8 yo boy, and am a big promoter of Dr. Sears' philosophy of child-rearing. Blessings to you and your beautiful boy!

A 6 month only cries for one reason - they NEED something. Not WANT. NEED. A tantrum is what toddlers have when they can't have something they WANT. There's a BIG difference. They can't talk so all he can do is cry or yell or grunt or whatever. Ignoring a young baby will only make him feel insecure. Of course you want a disciplined child but this is way too young. Sometimes they make an annoying sound just because they can and they are experimenting. You can ignore it and continue doing what you're doing, but it also might be his way of communicating certain things - like "mom I'm bored, give me a new toy". It's too young to think about discipling.

Do your best to keep your expectations of how your child should be as second to his needs. It sounds like he is experimenting with communicating--how clever! Babies don't have manners; they are the centre of their world and you are an extention of that. They learn manners (at a much older age!) from how you behave and how you communicate with them. If you are well-mannered, it's a good chance that your child will be. If you speak to your child a lot during the day--even just reading from the paper--he will develop very good communication skills, which will help keep two-year old tantrums to a minimum. His noises are normal and they won't last forever. Ignoring him would be a mistake!

my 6/12 month old grunts and yells when i don't respond fast enough or i interupt her play time. i really would not worry about it. we all want a well behaved child. 6 months is way to young to be worrying about manners. i find it very amusing. i think it's amazing that she is so young and yet so in tune with her own wants and needs. also, the first few years children are learning at lightning speed. yet, there communication skills lag behind. i'm sure our babies would love to tell us what it is they want and are frustrated that they can't. grunts, noises, crying-these are all forms of communicating. i don't have any suggestions, just want to reassure you that it is perfectly normal.

o.k i posted this before reading other's responses. cynthia, i completely agree with you. ignore a baby? are you serious? that is terrible (even if it s well intentioned) advice. i'm very disappointed that many of you ignore your child's needs. baby's do not have language skills. it is your responsibility as a parent to listen to your child's different noises and respond accordingly. your responsiveness makes baby feel secure. this is basic physcology. it is crucial that you respond to your baby's needs. yes, it may be more demanding. but it is worth it. every stage of development builds on the next. a happy well adjusted baby that is secure in his environment will be a happier toddler and so on. studies have shown that babies who are ignored tend to be more winy and dependent young children.

I am of the belief that these little people are never to young to know how to get what they want when they want it. From birth they learn that a cry will get them food, diaper change, or cuddling. Then you notice that there is a certain cry for each of these wants and can recognize them readily. So no I do not think he is too young to throw a bit of a temper tantrum.
If he is having this fit when he is waiting for his food....well he is hungry and well I have not found nothing short of feeding them to fix that...I mean how do you tell a baby that okay you are hungry but you need to be patient....Now if he is bored or that he just wants to be held then try distracting him with something else. When he has these fits then try giving him a moment before responding. Then just talk to him with a soothing voice. Try different ways of teaching him how to self sooth before you are the soother.
My mother told me that there was no such thing as a spoiled child--just a child that is loved very much.......well well, my dear mama I would beg to differ....they are out there. However, I have waited to pick them up or cuddle them just because they are having a fit.....I have tried other distractions and they did learn to self sooth but I never wanted them to do it so well that they did not want me too. I cuddled, I loved, I played, and I rocked.....loved every minute of it.....there was just a time for it.....not just when they demand it.
I understand that you do not want a spoiled child--sure everyone wants to have the well mannered child. However, do not confuse a spoiled child with a child whose parents are lacking boundaries and practice their child raising with doing anything to make the child happy just to avoid the tantrums. Keep your boundaries but do it lovingly. Do not let your "spoiled child" fear cause you to be too demanding and hard. I have seen that happen too. Mommy will hold you baby just cant right now.....No means no....just remember that he is a baby and does not get it.....he just knows that the crying works. It is a hard habbit to break and it has to be broken slowly and gently.
Good Luck
Good Luck

As a mother of four amazing children, I have been through this exact situation a few times. My youngest is now 8 1/2 months and has little tantrums EVERY time we change her diaper, and when she is being fed--but not fast enough. It is frustrating because they are so little and you want them to "behave". However, my three older children tried the same types of things, and they turned out just fine. In fact, they are very courteous and well mannered, not spoiled, and certainly not angels, but still good kids. While it seems to be a rebellious act, I think this is the only way they have to tell you they don't like what you are doing, but they don't understand consequences until later. Once they are able to express themselves better, you have a better chance of being understood that this behavior is unacceptable. It is also, much easier to discipline them when they are two years old because they understand what "no" means. In short, my advice is "just relax". This is a battle you will be fighting for years to come because they change the type of tantrum they have when they are mad about something. Good luck and take a deep breath!

Unlike the other lady i say ignore; tantrums do start this early and out of control yelling is just a bad habit waiting to get worse!!!! As long as you know and see that your lil love is doing just fine let em yell or later on you could be dealing with worse demands that will even embarass you........

my 2 year old used to do that, she just had a very good and strong appetite. Glad it slowed down some. I thought I'd have problems later. LOL..she actually weighs less than a few kids her age. But Taller than most. Um, as for us as we did it was we showed her attention and loved her. You can not SPOIL a child at this age. You can only spoil them when they KNOW BETTER. As for your son he don't know any diffrence at this time. So attend to his needs and wants right now and slowly work him into being independant. My daughter was very needy until she learned how to crawl, but that only lasted for a few weeks, than she was up running around. SO enjoy it while it lasts. Because they get to the point that they wish YOU didn't notice so much! (Learning that with my 11 year old daughter)! (SMILE)

He could just be discovering that he can make different sounds and that they can get different reactions. It is part of normal speech development. Perhaps you could try to imitate the sound back to him, then model a new, less annoying sound to him and try to encourage him to imitate that sound back to you. I did that with my children and after a while they chose the more pleasant sound and we didn't hear the annoying sound anymore. It is a valuable start to teaching them 2-way communication.

He probably just found something new to do. At 6 months they are learning so fast! My dd goes through stages like that. She's almost 14 mos and we're now in the screeching stage. She screeches in the store, at the mall and in the bathroom. I think she likes the way her voice sounds. It's really annoying though. And unpleasant for other people. I'm going to say that your son's behavior is perfectly normal.

Babies under the age of 1 year do not know how to be naughty, it sounds like he's just doing regular baby stuff.
I wanted to be the disciplinarian too, but I found if I just relaxed about things my children actually stopped doing what was annoying, if I made a big deal of things it just made things worse and they knew it annoyed me so they did it more. Of course there is always a place for kind guidance which I found works better than being really strict.