Has a loud baby/toddler ever give you a meltdown?

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I remember back when I was in my early teens I used to get into a panic if there was a child aged from birth to about 5 years old anywhere near me what was making a noise. It was one thing I used to embarrass myself with. I remember when I was 14 I was in a restaurant with my family and there was a young baby in a pram near me what was crying, and I stamped my feet angrily and pulled my hair really hard. I don't know if that's considered a meltdown but it was still an unpleasant reaction what I frown upon now when I remember it, and it did draw people's attention to me.

As an adult I have learned to cope with young children, although I still don't like it and I still get flustered inside but I am able to just be cool and not show behaviour what could draw attention. I don't mind a young baby crying so much now, it's more babies from about 14 months to around 4 years what I dislike having near me, and if somebody does stand or sit in my space with one, I just calmly walk away because it still agitates me.

Has anyone else learned to cope with the cries of babies, or do you get really upset?

Yes!! !
it's not the crying that does it for me, its the loud shrivel and highpitched screams they do. my ears pop and hurt with each one. and all i can do is either storm out, or get frustraited and throw whatever is in my hands down and cover my ears, an scream out in anger and then cry(because i never meant to react at all).

I wouldn't say meltdown, I would say anxiety and stress. It was too high pitched. I know I get cranky and irritable if I have to deal with it, especially with my son talking in a whiny voice and it's even worse when my own daughter is crying and my son is making noise. It's too much.

I remember being 13 and I was on the train and this mother was sleeping in her seat and her two year old was still up and these kids behind here were playing and she was standing up on the seats looking behind them and she would make these high pitch sounds as she was watching them and I remember getting really upset and felt like crying and I kept jumping and covering my ears because it was that loud for me. I remember my mom saying something to me but I don't remember what. Then I remember seven years later and I was working in the folkshop and this family comes in with their two year old and she was very hyper and she kept making these high pitched sounds and it kept making me jump. The mother kept going "shh shhh" and I was thinking 'get her out of here' and I was so relieved when they left. They were not there long. I was pretty stressed because I didn't know when those sounds would occur. I always feel that way around toddlers when they are loud because I don't know when they are going to be noisy again. I have one of my own now lol and I just kick him out of the room or lock myself in my room when he doesn't stop or I send him to his dad and close the door. It's either that or scream at him to shut up lol.

All the time! But, apart from one time (and even then, I was friendly to the parents), I keep it to myself.

Parents do absolutely nothing. To them, it is music.

I wish more businesses would do what these businesses did to ban children for this reason (http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/restaurant ... d=14056230). Not too long ago, parents wouldn't dare take their under-10 children to a restaurant. Fast-food vendors, sure, but not a restaurant or other business that is targeted to adults. The current batch of parents in this world never got the memo.

And, what about adults who shout their conversations from 15 or 20 feet apart in book stores? In my yesteryear mind, a bookstore is the same thing as a library.

I've come close. My patience for screaming toddlers is not very high. I can get overwhelmed by that sound pretty easily.

I love the sounds of happy children. It's one of my favorite.

Happy children make beautiful sounds like cute laughter. Screaming children, not so much.

Yes. I don't know how to cope with it, other than moving away from the kid, or covering ears or using earphones.

He had a full bore meltdown, when our kid at 8 months had a ear infection in both ears. She could not stop crying, nothing worked to sooth her. We did not know he had Asperger's at the time.

Hubby punched holes in the dry wall, and slammed his head on the floor.

At least he didn't go after me and our kid.

I'm not around little kids much except when I go shopping for groceries and other stuff, especially at this time of year. Their screeching, whining, and being a general brat while their parents do NOTHING to keep them quiet makes me fantasize about doing things to the kid that would make Homer Simpson strangling Bart look sweet and tender. Mmmm, sweet and tender children, roasted slowly over a... just kidding!! Sometimes I listen to my earphones to drown out noise in general.

O that's gold

I've come close . Depends on your definitiona ofa meltdown. I I'm in a supermarket and there's a screaming kid, I can stand it for so long, then I have to leave. I have been stuck on an aircraft with a screaming kid 2 rows behind me and another 3 rows in front only to find my ear plugs were not in my carry on bag, but the cargo hold. Longest trip I got off the plane and my husband said" Gee you did well"

I have been tempted to strangle my niece when she thought it would be funny to bloww a high pitched whistle repeatedly , despite my telling her not to. (Her new age social worker mother[my sister] doesn't believe in telling kids no) I told her (my sister) quietly, with tears in my eyes, to take it off her before I ripped it out of her mouth and her response was to give me a filthy look and tell her it might be time to put it away as it might start annoying my hearing impaired SIL. So much for social workers and empathy.

I can relate, don't know if it was/is panic, but when a young child cries/screams/whatever it usually gives me this feeling in my chest... Being close to a young child made and makes me be more on my guard like when I am in the close proximity of a dog that I know has a loud/for me unbearable bark. I think I felt panic or something like that in the past with certain children who gave me a strange and unpleasant feeling in my chest, a tendency either to cry (which I didn't), to flee, or ask the parents to please make it stop (luckily I did neither). (I did try to *ahem* subtly cover my ears.... ) I avoid places with (young) children and won't ever have them myself.

I never did something like that myself but I don't get angry often anyway. I understand though that the sound is maddening. I probably would've walked away. I remember in a strangely comparable situation that I sat it out and cried afterwards to let go of the pressure that built up (was 15).

Yes, those are horrible. Mommy I WANT! EEEEAAAAAAAHHHH! Or they just shout and scream for no reason whatsoever.

I ''cope'' by remaining cool and getting away from the situation asap, or avoiding the kid. However, when people are talking to me and the child or dog makes -for me- unbearable noise it really makes it very difficult to converse. Probably because of the built-up tension/frustration and the sudden, negative distraction.

I hate being anywhere near such children. I've had to leave shops before due to babies and young children crying and screaming. The sound just fills my head to bursting point and I can't think. Similarly I hate being around friends or relatives who have young children - the noise drives me insane, it completely overloads me. One relative who I avoid has a house full of kids all shouting and wanting attention and the TV is blaring away in the background and the adults are trying to talk over all the noise too.... it is just too much for me. Kids seem to single me out too - hey look at this new tambourine or drum kit or other (noise making) toy they got for their birthday. AAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGgHHHHHHH!

Yes, it has happened to me many times. I am a parent so if I feel like I am getting into meltdown mode I ask my partner to take over for a few moments so I can calm down and collect myself.

Drives me batshit. Absolutely batshit. I have been known to stick my screaming child in its bedroom, shut the door, and go outside in order to quell the impulse to smack them until the noise stops (last track I had of it, the advice to do this was issued to all new parents).

A lot of the time, there is nothing a parent CAN do. The kid is having their own meltdown and really can't control it; just like an autistic having a meltdown, any attempt to intervene is probably going to make it worse. Pacifying them teaches them to throw fits on purpose; yelling and spanking intensifies the explosion.

About the only thing to be done is to take the screaming child OUT. This works in restaurants (if you're not the only adult with a pack of young kids, under which circumstances I REFUSE to take my kids to a restaurant) and church. Not so much places like the grocery store, where GETTING OUT OF THERE is what the kid wants and you are doing something that has to get done in order to run your house.

Please bear that in mind and try to cope, at least in places like that-- sitters are expensive and hard to find, and not everyone has family nearby to help. Parents still have to live, and kids have to be taken out sometime if they are ever going to learn how to behave.

I don't take my kids to nice restaurants-- I figure if they don't sell meals with toys, have smiley faces on the menu, and/or provide crayons with the meal, it's a place for grownups to eat. If I'm dying for what they offer, I'll call in an order and pick it up.

In exchange, I expect to be able to take my kids to WalMart. I'm not there to browse-- I'm there to get what I need and leave, but I do expect to be able to do it without getting into a confrontation with someone because my kid/s is/are having a bad day.

I literally cannot handle when children scream--- esp if it is the loud pitched hysterical scream (when throwing a tantrum for example). I don't know if I have always been like this, but I definitely noticed when I was in my teens. It agitates me so badly that I become angry and have a bad attitude with others around me. It's not because my ears pop or anything.. it just hurts my ears so badly. Does anyone know why screaming children irritate us like this?