That book, the Explosive Child, was and is a life saver for me and my family. I just can't say enough good things about what we learned as a family on how to understand and deal with my son who was explosive from the day he was born. The book was recommended by a social worker in my school district.

My son also cried non-stop and would not be comforted. We would try everything. Not until he began to speak did we learn that the tags on his cloths were HURTING him. That the lumpies in his socks were hurting him. We changed all his cloths and socks - he was more settled. He has Sensory Integration dysfunction - which we found out when he was 4yrs old. If we could go back in time to when he was a baby, we would take all his cloths off and instead of wrapping him in a blanket - we would skip the blanket and simply turn up the heat.

Don't give up looking for solutions to dealing with your son. He is definitely crying for a reason and it is not to make you upset or control you. Ignoring him may not solve whatever is bugging him. Even though it sounds silly, pay attention to what he is wearing. He could be sensitve to the feel of the fabric, clothing tags, long sleeves/short sleeves, socks etc.

As my son grew older and started school - the techniques in the Explosive Child book helped a lot. It helped to look at our son as a person who needed more practice at social skills and tolerance for frustation than the average child. It helped to look at him from a learning disability perspective rather than a willful child perspective.

A lot of folks will tell you that everything your son is doing is age appropriate for a two year old and not to worry - I was told the same thing. And then we started getting kicked out of every daycare setting, preschool, summer camp... It might be age appropriate but the intensity may be more than what is normally expected.

If you feel in your heart that something is up - keep looking, keep asking questions. Get a professional involved to evaluate the situation. A pychologist evaluated my son at age 4 and referred us to an occupational therapst who helped my son with the Sensory issues. Previously, the pediatrician kept telling us not to worry that the behavior was not unusual for his age. And then when the daycare kickouts started (because my son was spitting, biting, hitting, pushing when frustrated) she suggested we enroll in a parenting program. The parenting program she recommended teaches parents how to get their GED, fill out application for employment, how to recover from addition, etc. All noble causes but there were not our issues. I feel lucky that we hooked up with the pychologist who finally put us on a path where we could help my son.

Sorry this is so long a post - I saw the book title and just feel so strongly about it that I just had to post back. Don't give up searching for your child and good luck.