How To Soothe A Crying Toddler?

Team AckoFeb 9, 2024

Till the age of 3 years, your toddler goes through a shrieking phase. When your little one is in his early stages, say just a baby, his cries were stopped with easy remedy like burping, a bottle feed or quick cuddling. Now, your toddler is grown into a complete tantrum guy. He tends to tone it down, when he tries to express himself or tries to seek your attention; and you tend to ignore him. At times it becomes extremely embarrassing for you as a parent, to keep yourself calm in a public place and specially when it feels like all eyes are on you.

How to soothe a crying toddler: Reasons your toddler cries

At times the reasons for your toddler’s tears may seem to be unknown. Crying jags are generally triggered in when your toddler finds himself in the following circumstances:

When your toddler craves for your attention

Your toddler may cry out loud for an activity or for some intangible love. You can also expect him to get cranky when you try to put him to bed. Bed time generally means, “It’s time to be all by yourself” or taking away attention from him. Your kid feels sad and uncomfortable about the whole idea and will keep crying in search of another round of cuddle and attention.

When your child is not happy about something

At times it might appear that your toddler is too stubborn about certain things. At times, he is not happy wearing his shoes, he doesn’t want to have his food, or he wants to eat mud in the park. Raising your voice at that time might turn him into a more difficult kid in the future.

When your toddler is exhausted

Your child is super active and all playful all throughout the day, which makes him overly tired by the end of the day. Totally worn out, makes your toddler cranky, weepy, uncomfortable and uncooperative, setting up a very long battle for you to put him off to sleep. You need to have lots of patience for it.

When your child is phobic

Your toddler tends to have strange imaginations wherein, it becomes difficult for him to draw a line between fantasy and reality. It might happen that he becomes susceptible to nightmares or scared of dark rooms. Such situation might make your little one cranky and uncomfortable.

When your toddler shows manipulative behavior

At times, your kid might turn on his waterworks for lot of reasons, but not all of them are genuine. This manipulative behavior, to force you to do what he wants, might leave you with a wadded-up ball of emotions. You might be frustrated and at the same time confused whether to accept your little one’s demand or to say “No” and experience a whole puddle of tears.

Read now: Tips to distract your toddler from crying

How to soothe your crying toddler?: Ways to calm your toddler

Here are some ways to soothe your crying toddler:

Playtime Activities

You can set aside different activities for your child and give him your full attention. This helps in building up a stronger bond between you two and even sets a better foundation for calming him down before he gets upset.

Preparing your child for bed time 

You should always remember to adjust his afternoon’s nap. Little naps in the afternoon will leave little energy in your child and it would help him in getting quality sleep at night.

Massage before bedtime

Since your toddler was super active throughout the day, so it is advisable to give him a good massage before putting him off to bed. This helps in relaxing him and getting better sleep.

Patience is the key to success

When your toddler starts off with his crocodile tears and tantrums, just to get what he wants, its time for you to react calmly. Your indifferent attitude will leave a negative impact on your kid and if you agreed with his demands, then he would repeat the same process every time to get his work done. In this situation, you need to cuddle him and try to distract him towards other things. 

Also read: How to deal with your child's crying?

How to soothe a crying toddler?: Few disciplinary actions to be kept in mind

1. If your toddler has an outburst in a public place, you should never yell back at your child or physically endanger him. Rather, you can take your kid away from the crowd and try offering him the option of sitting on the bench or in the car or you can distract him by taking him to a play area.

2. You should always motivate your toddler’s good behavior, even in public. This encourages him to react civilized in front of others.

3. Children have very short attention span, so as a parent it is very important for you, to always be handy with few things that might help in creating a distraction. It can help you to sense and create a diversion before your toddler’s meltdown.

4. You should always try to empathize with your toddler, by understanding the reason of his weeping. At times, he might not be able to express himself therefore you need to be proactive in realizing his sudden outbursts. 

5. You can always give incentives to your kid to behave properly. You can always offer him with defensive bribes to act civilized especially when you are at a public place.

6. Always try to soothe your child by cuddling him and making him realize that however worst it may go, you will always take care of him.

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