Appeal To Your Childs Compassion
Tell your child how the outburst is affecting you. You could say that it saddened you as a parent to see your child behave in this way. Or you can try telling them that you are exhausted and could use some rest, so could they please find something else to do quietly.
Keeping the lines of communication open in your home is the right way of connecting with your children on all levels and not just when they are angry. If these simple tips do not help you calm your child down over a period, then it might be time to seek professional help. A good therapist and some family counselling alongside individual therapy might help your child work through their feelings better.
Disclaimer: This information is just a guide and not a substitute for medical advice from a qualified professional.
Wife’s Anger During Pregnancy: She Gets Mad
âOver the last 6-8 weeks, she has become more-short fused. If I’m trying to talk to her and our toddler is interrupting, she gets mad at me for taking too long to say what I need to say.
“If something small isn’t working to her satisfaction she starts angrily cursing at it,â he confesses.
âShe slams doors and walks around huffing and puffing. If I say anything about it, I get accused of being in a panic or losing my sh**,â he adds.
Could Your Mood Swings Actually Be Depression
Youve most likely heard of postpartum depression , but you can also have depression during pregnancy. One study found almost 20 percent of postpartum depression actually starts during pregnancy.
Undiagnosed and untreated depression during pregnancy isnt good for mom or baby, and isnt the same as your hormonal mood swings.
Symptoms of depression during pregnancy include:
- feeling down most of the time
- not being bothered with anything
- being unable to concentrate or make decisions
- feeling tearful a lot of the time
- feeling restless and agitated
- feeling worthless or guilty
- having suicidal thoughts
If youre feeling distressed or depressed, its important that you contact your midwife or doctor as soon as possible so that they can refer you to a mental health professional.
Youll likely be referred to a perinatal mental health specialist, and will be monitored more closely during and after your pregnancy.
You May Like: Can I Use Vagisil Wash While Pregnant
Having A Baby If You’re On Your Own
If youre on your own, ask your midwife if there are antenatal classes in your area that are especially for single people.
After birth, it can be encouraging to meet other single parents who also went through pregnancy on their own.
Gingerbread is a self-help organisation for single-parent families. It has a network of local groups and can give you information and advice. The charity can also put you in touch with other parents in a similar situation to you.
Visit the Gingerbread online forum.
Remove Conflict And Stress
Try as much as possible to remove yourself from stressful situations. If you have older kids testing limits or a strenuous job, you cant just walk away for the next nine months.
However, you can identify a few isolated conflict-inducing incidents and choose a different approach to handling them.
Whether its a problematic co-worker or your toddler throwing a tantrum, if youre upset, it is perfectly acceptable to take a break before you discuss the issue.
Give yourself a few moments to regain composure, and focus on another activity to calm you down.
You may also reduce stress by removing unnecessary items from your to-do list. This might decrease your level of anxiety and feelings of being overwhelmed.
Read Also: Opi Plasma Center
When Does Pregnancy Rage Occur
Unfortunately, there isnât one specific frame during pregnancy when you might feel the effects of pregnancy rage. While that doesnât make your nine months a free-for-all, if you were to experience pregnancy rage, it would most likely be during the earlier part of your pregnancy. âMost of the hormone changes that are significant in range and levels are in the first trimester and early second trimester,â Dr. Shepherd explains. Still, it can pop at any point in pregnancy. âPregnancy rage is not a diagnosis and women will have responses to hormones at various times during pregnancy and after,â she adds.
Video: How To Deal With Your Childs Anger 10 Best Tips For Parents
- Frequent anger
- Not bothered about how their anger is hurting others feelings
- Speaks in a threatening manner
- Expresses aggression or violence through drawings or writings
- Has to be reminded to control their anger
Understanding what triggered the anger is the first step in helping your child cope. Through anger management methods, you can get your child to learn how to channel their anger and calm down gradually.
You May Like: Tums While Pregnant
Make Yourself A Priority
Your happiness and health are of the utmost importance during pregnancy because the well-being of your baby is directly linked to it. Take steps to ensure you are physically and emotionally healthy and comfortable wear comfortable clothes and footwear, have heart-to-heart conversations with your partner, and share your apprehensions with your family, friends, or doctor.
Second And Third Trimesters
Hormonal shifts can continue into the second and third trimesters, so crying spells may happen during this time, too.
Your body is changing rapidly, which can also increase anxiety levels. As a result, some women may feel more on edge in the second trimester. If so, normal everyday stresses and frustrations could also trigger crying spells.
And when youre nearing the finish line, theres probably a lot on your mind. You have to complete the nursery, prepare your finances, and the realness of labor and delivery might make you a little panicky.
Youre about to have an added responsibility whether its your first child or youre adding to your family. This can be a stressful time, and if emotions run high, crying spells might follow.
Recommended Reading: Can I Use Vagisil Wash While Pregnant
Why Am I So Angry During Pregnancy
The most common cause of extreme emotional responses during pregnancy is hormones. Your hormones tend to fluctuate as your body enters the first trimester and changes to support the growing life inside you.
This can lead to more intense feelings, conflicting emotions, and frequent mood swings.
Another common cause of anger in pregnancy is good ol stress.
There are few events in life as life-changing as welcoming a new child into your family. As exciting as it is, the transitions and stress of the unknown can also cause tensions to run high and impact your ability to control your anger during your pregnancy.
Reflect Before You React
Sometimes, all it takes is pausing for a few seconds of deep breathing to stop the worst of our angry impulses from taking over.
Once you have a better understanding of what anger feels like in your body and mind, you can work on your response to it. The next time your anger bubbles up, stop everything you are doing for a second and take a deep breath. Often, this will be enough to significantly change your reaction.
Don’t Miss: Safe To Take Tums While Pregnant
Parental Stress Can Lead To Anger And Lost Tempers
If you are feeling incredibly stressed right now, you are not alone. If all that stress is making you cranky, irritable, and on edge, that too, is understandable. These are unprecedented times, and many people are noticing that their mental health has taken a toll.
Stress can make you feel short on patience. Your fuse may be shorter than usual. You may be angry. You may be losing your temper easily. You may be yelling more than youd like to. You may even be having trouble controlling your anger. While anger is an understandable emotional reaction to stress, its important that we dont let it get the better of us.
Raising your voice every now and then is not harmful to your children. However, frequently lashing out at them with insults, regularly them, and creating a fearful living environment can have lasting detrimental effects on children. So can spanking and corporal punishment, according to the Academy of American Pediatrics .
Sometimes, our anger does take over. When this happens, we need to figure out a way to manage it. The good news is that simply acknowledging that your anger is a problem can help you to tackle it. From there, you can work on finding healthier ways to cope, which will benefit you and your kids.
What Are Pregnancy Mood Swings
Mood swings that happen during pregnancy are a lot like the mood swings that many women experience before their periods. You might feel happy one minute and sad, angry or anxious the next or maybe you find yourself having bigger feelings over things that dont usually make you all that emotional.
While your ricocheting moods might make you feel frustrated, these emotional surges are a totally normal and even expected part of being pregnant.
Don’t Miss: Can I Use Vagisil Wipes While Pregnant
Factors That Can Contribute To Anger During Pregnancy
Changes in hormone levels: This is the major factor behind experiencing anger during pregnancy. Hormones in our body play an important role in affecting our mood and behavior. When the level of these hormones increases or decreases in the body it results in mood swings, intense and strong feelings, and ultra-sensitivity in a person. Such hormone fluctuation is a naturally occurring phenomenon in pregnancy and there is hardly anything that can be done about it.
Anxiety: Another key reason for getting angered during pregnancy is anxiety. It can be due to a variety of reasons such as physical stress, inadequate rest, poor quality sleep, work overload, financial uncertainties, and uncooperative spouses. Staying under stress for a constant period negatively impacts the anger dealing abilities in a woman and can lead to sudden emotional outbursts.
Fear: Another reason for anger is again very common in pregnant women. It is the fear of the unknown. Pregnant women have the fear regarding the labor pain, health of the unborn infant or birth defects, any existent disease or complication that can impact her pregnancy, etc.
Discomfort: There can also be a certain level of unavoidable distress at the time of pregnancy due to the physical modification that occurs during this period. Pregnant girls experience sickness, fatigue, and nausea. Discomfort can lead to extreme feelings and irritability if the reasons for distress arent dealt with appropriately.
My Signs Of Postpartum Anger
Everything was a trigger for my postpartum anger. I yelled at a nurse who woke me in the early morning to take my blood pressure. When the social worker at the hospital did a routine check on new moms, she asked me if I felt depressed or unable to care for my daughter. I felt attacked and shouted back, “What are you talking about? I can take care of my daughter. How dare you ask me that!” She quickly left, closing the door behind her.
I was also mad at the clumsy lactation nurse who tried to force me to breastfeed, despite saying that my nipples were all torn up from giving my daughter colostrum.
Though I was grateful that the hospital allowed my husband to stay with me during recovery, he probably regretted the decision each time I lost my temper. I became livid at any interruptionsand my husband’s constant tap, tap, tapping on his computer drove me insane.
The unrelenting rage I felt at the slightest provocation, which felt as though my eyeballs would explode, felt oddly empowering. But the night terrors overwhelmed me, making me feel like I was drowning in a sea of emotion. I’d had them before I gave birthmostly about medical mishaps during deliverybut now they were back with a vengeance. My new dreams were of people in parks pulling my baby’s stroller away from me. I’d wake up my fists balled ready to fight, the adrenaline coursing through my body.
Also Check: Side Effects Of Donating Plasma While Pregnant
Husband Struggles To Deal With ‘overly Aggressive’ Pregnant Wife
One husband recently vented that his pregnant wife had become âoverly aggressiveâ. Talking about his wife’s anger during pregnancy, he says, “She gets mad…â
Pregnancy can not only be tough on the woman, but her partner too.
And as one husband recently vented, some pregnant women can become âoverly aggressiveâ.
Taking to reddit to share his experience and to get otherâs feedback on whether he was wrong for feeling like he did, the husband detailed his wifeâs behaviour which included slamming doors, huffing and puffing and getting annoyed at the smallest of things.
Second Trimester Mood Swings
The second trimester of pregnancy is often called the honeymoon phase. Hormones are still changing but much less so than during the first three months. Most women feel more energy and dont have morning sickness any moreor at least, its not as bad.
Still, there are potential emotional triggers. For one, during the second trimester, the body shape changes really kick in. Some women can avoid maternity clothing during the first trimester, but by the second, the need for extra room is unavoidable.
Some women feel excited about their body changes. Finally, they dont have to pull their stomach in! But others can feel anxious. This is especially true for women who have a history of body image struggles.
Prenatal testing during the second trimester also can cause emotional distress. Amniocentesis, when recommended, is usually done during the early second trimester. Deciding whether or not to have prenatal testing, and anxiety about the results, can cause emotional distress.
Another thing that can lead to mood swings is reading about everything that can possibly go wrong during pregnancy and childbirth. Some pregnancy books are more like long lists of every possible complication. This can occur during any trimester of pregnancy, of course.
You May Like: Head Lice Treatment While Pregnant
When To Seek Help
If you notice you are getting angry a lot or you are having trouble controlling your anger, there is help available.
Start by talking to your GP, who can put you in touch with a psychologist or counsellor if necessary. They can help you write down a plan to manage your anger.
For advice on managing difficult child behaviour, call Pregnancy, Birth and Baby on 1800 882 436 to speak with a maternal child health nurse.
If you feel you might hurt yourself or your child, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
What Is Pregnancy Rage
Being occasionally cranky because youâre subsisting on a diet of crackers and ginger ale due to morning sickness is completely normal. Feeling angry and irritable to the point that it takes over is entirely another. And if you had to pinpoint a culprit, youâd be right in guessing that those lovely hormones are to blame. âPregnancy rage is explained as when emotions are uncharacteristically different due to changes in hormones,â Dr. Jessica Shepherd, MD, an OB/GYN and Verwell Healthâs Chief Medical Officer explains to Romper. âThis is when in pregnancy, the body has a significant change in estrogen and progesterone that can trigger moodiness.â
You May Like: Breakfast Essentials While Pregnant
Is It Normal To Feel Angry During Pregnancy
Some women experience irritability and even anger during pregnancy. Hormone changes are one reason for these mood swings. Just like some women experience irritability just before their period arrives every month, these same women may struggle with feelings of frustration and anger during pregnancy.
Additionally, when you aren’t feeling well, your ability to stay calm and collected is lower. As a result, pregnancy fatigue and physical discomfort is a big contributor to pregnancy anger. Keeping your temper under control when you feel constantly tired is challenging.
Then, there are some women who may have feelings of resentment during pregnancy because of their life situation. Maybe their finances aren’t where they want them to be, maybe they are facing stress on the job, or maybe they didn’t truly want to be pregnant. Perhaps their partner pressured them into having another baby when they weren’t ready, or maybe the pregnancy wasn’t planned.
While occasional feelings of frustration are normal, it’s important not to ignore anger if it’s frequent or interfering with your ability to cope with daily life. Some research has found that anger during pregnancy may impact the unborn child. One study found that prenatal anger was associated with reduced fetal growth rate.
The Womb Is A Busy Place
So, how does a mom’s stress get passed onto their fetus? Researchers aren’t exactly sure which stress responses play the largest role, but it’s clear that when a pregnant woman experiences anxiety, their body produces chemicals that affect the baby, too. Their nervous system, for instance, stimulates the release of epinephrine and norepinephrine, stress hormones that constrict blood vessels and reduce oxygen to the uterus.
Since a very significant decrease in blood flow is probably necessary to compromise development of the fetus, Dr. Wadhwa says that another stress response is more likely to affect fetal growth and pre-term labor. That is, when pregnant women experience stress, particularly in the first trimester, the placenta increases production of corticotropin-releasing hormone , which regulates the duration of pregnancy and fetal maturation.
CRH is one of the most exciting recent scientific discoveries that could explain why women go into labor when they do. Called the “placental clock,” CRH levels measured in the mother’s blood early in pregnancy — between 16 and 20 weeks — can predict the onset of labor months later. Those with the highest levels will likely deliver prematurely, and those with lowest levels are apt to deliver past their due dates.
Continued
Read Also: Can I Use Vagisil Wash While Pregnant
Pregnancy Hormones And Mood Swings
One big reason for pregnancy mood swings is your rapidly changing hormonesspecifically estrogen and progesterone. Estrogen levels soar during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, increasing by more than 100 times.
Estrogen is associated with the brain chemical serotonin. You may know serotonin as the happy hormone, one that many anti-depressant medications attempt to boost. But serotonin isnt a straightforward connection to happiness. Imbalances and fluctuations in this neurotransmitter can cause emotional dysregulation.
How exactly estrogen and serotonin interact with each other isnt fully understood. What does seem to be apparent is that changes in estrogen levelsand not a particular level of estrogenare what cause mood imbalances. Anxiety and irritability, in particular, are associated with estrogen changes.
But its not just estrogen thats increasing. The hormone progesterone also rapidly increases during pregnancy, especially during the first three months. While estrogen is usually associated with energy , progesterone is associated with relaxation.
In fact, thats just what progesterone does in the body during pregnancy. It tells the muscles to relax, partially to prevent premature contractions of the uterus. This muscle relaxation is also a factor in why women experience constipation during pregnancy. Progesterone doesnt only act on the uterine muscles but also affects the intestinal tract. When your bowels slow down, constipation can be a result.
