Are these red flags? Or just normal 8-yr-old stuff? - Page 2

[oceanbluemomma]

Originally Posted by sillygrl 

Bottom line, it wouldn't hurt to bring up these concerns with his pediatrician. If it's something you've been worried about for years, then I think it's something that's important to bring up. Your pediatrician may be able to reassure you or may ask you to see a specialist. I drug my feet on my oldest son for years but finally asked his doctor about the things he was doing. Now, he has the help he needs and is doing a lot better. He's 8 also, does still sometimes have temper tantrums that would put a 2 yr old to shame (lol) but there is a lot of improvement and he's happy. In a way, I wish I had followed my gut sooner.

to be totally honest, unless your ped has some alternative training, you will get the standard response on this that they have been "taught" at pharm. cash deposited medical schools.  Not trying to piss anyone off but in all seriousness most peds have no idea what is going on with today's kids and prescribe pretty colored toxic covered pills to "mask" symptoms and not heal a damn thing.  Just because you feel better doesn't mean you are healed.

[Kreeblim]

My very first thoughts from you OP, are to take a closer look at his blood sugar.  I have a 6 year old who is an extremely well-behaved and helpful kid, but he is very sensitive to hunger and sleep.  We put it together a couple of years ago, but I didn't really understand how big of a difference a small snack can make until I developed pretty major hypoglycemia in pregnancy.  Even going 2 hours without some type of carb or sugar would make me so very cranky with such a short fuse that it seemed like I was a whole other person.  Let it go too long and it would just get worse.  

To give you an example, at an event the other day he chose one activity while his brother chose another.  They knew the activities were being packed up for the day by the event staff so they could only pick one.  When his brother ran over to show him how cool his project was, he started crying that he couldn't make one too and then refused to move anywhere as if he were a rag doll.  I know he's 6, but this is something totally unthinkable in the middle of the day.  Not only was it almost 9pm at night (way late for him) but he hadn't eaten since dinner at about 6.  I gave the kids granola bars and tried to change the subject, but we basically have had to live our lives around the idea that we always have some sort of food item available, and make sure DS1 has enough sleep.  If we leave the house without preparing properly we suck it up and get something while we're out as soon as we can because we know from the past that things will just get worse and worse as his blood sugar drops or he gets more tired.  I won't even go into some of the tantrums that happened before we understood what was happening, but let's just say they were awful.  

DS2 is only a year younger btw, and he kind of goes with the flow.  I'd say DS1's issues are a result of our parenting style alone, but that's difficult to do when this food/sleep pattern has been noticed by others in the family, and when DS2 has no sign of being as sensitive to sleep OR food as DS1.  I'm not saying that this is the real issue, or the only issue for your family, but it's worth looking into.

[eepster]

It sounds like it might be a blood sugar issue to me too.  I would look into and talk to the Dr about hypoglycemia.

[BubbleMa]

I don't really have anything to say that hasn't already been said.  I just wanted offer support.  My 6yo step-son has some similar behaviors.  His outbursts are more random, and don't seem to have any correlation to being sleepy or hungry though.

[mom2happy]

I have no advice, but can tell you that my 7 year old DD sounds very similar.

It's like the frustration coping part of her brain just DOES NOT WORK.

Nothing Im doing is working. It makes all of our lives easier if I can solve her problems for her, but the things that she should be able to handle at her age are not clicking. With 2 other kids,  I  cant always be by her side to help her through everything to avoid a blow up.

I'm realizing more everyday that my 5 year old DS is surpassing her in simple coping mechanisms.

Im getting ready this week to make some calls about evaluations. I got a lot of good advice here too.