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Baby Blog: Why Is My Eight-Month-Old Son Already Having Tantrums?

Our new mum is feeling inadequate following her baby’s first public meltdown

It happened in the supermarket.

There we were, trying to discern the difference between a pointed cabbage and a savoy when my eight-month-old son went into full meltdown.

Tantrums definitely aren't just for toddlers [Copyright/Yahoo]
Tantrums definitely aren't just for toddlers [Copyright/Yahoo]

I didn’t want him to be such a cliché, I wanted more for him – I hoped he would choose somewhere a little more avant garde.

Alas, there must be something in the air at supermarkets that drives the under fives wild - maybe it’s something they spray on the veg?

He had decided he wanted my glasses – despite the fact I was using them on my face at the time to, y’know, see where I was going, things like that. I tried to bargain with him using toys, carrot sticks, nursery rhymes – usually all the stuff he goes for. But he was a man possessed – it was the glasses or nothing.

And so he exploded. Back arched, tears pouring down his screwed up face. The supermarket was a stage and the fruit and veg merely players.

Some people I’ve told this story to reckon this means he’s really intelligent – he’s no fool and didn’t just forget the glasses existed at the presentation of a limp carrot stick. I certainly will give him credit for perseverance.

Freddy may look angelic, but two seconds later he EXPLODED [Copyright/Yahoo]
Freddy may look angelic, but two seconds later he EXPLODED [Copyright/Yahoo]

Tantrums Aren't Just For Toddlers
The problem is – he has started to know stuff. He knows things he likes, he knows things he doesn’t like and he thinks he has worked out how to get them.

I perhaps underestimated quite how young this would start. The boy’s first tantrum happened before he can even sit up. I was under the naïve impression tantrums were strictly reserved for toddlers and celebrities.

I’m not unsympathetic to his cause - it must be mega frustrating to be a baby unable to speak or even sit up without help. Being an immobile mute would make you a little tetchy from time to time. I just wish I knew when.

What would be useful would be a baby forecast to give you an idea of what’s coming – because right now I haven’t got a clue. We went into the supermarket in glorious sunshine, we left in the middle of a tsunami.

Freddy's tantrums are a new thing [Copyright/Yahoo]
Freddy's tantrums are a new thing [Copyright/Yahoo]

Loss Of Control
Babies don’t reason that perhaps they shouldn’t wail quite so loudly because it makes everyone stare and gives Mummy crippling social anxiety. They just see stuff they want and wail like a tiny little Attila the Hun.

All the books and baby experts without kids say you can’t give in, but that takes some serious self assurance when the 300 decibel squawking is in public.

In that moment you become the world’s worst mother. Totally paranoid, even if no one is looking at you, you definitely feel like they are.

With the bellow of a squawk I suddenly feel like I have a label on me saying, ‘World’s least in control mother’ and I'm conscious of my age, my looks, my status. All of which I immediately feel are inadequate.

It’s not that I am particularly young or old, wearing some sort fancy dress or fresh off the Jeremy Kyle show however, losing control of the situation means I suddenly assume everyone is thinking the worst.

I am ashamed to say – after roughly seven and a half minutes of deafening squawks and tears (mine not his) in the supermarket, I abandoned ship. I put the half completed shopping list to one side, grabbed the baby and got the hell out of there.

Who is really in control right now? Because right now, I don’t feel like it’s me.

Do you have any tips for coping with temper tantrums? Share them in the comments below.

[What To Do If Your Child Cries In Public - And How To Keep Your Cool]