Screeching Baby

[trigeek]

Sorry to be gone so long. Baby, job, and school have left little to no personal time. But I have come crawling back because I miss you guys.

Baby Andrea, about 8 months is doing great. She is crawling and saying "dada" and "mama". She is also really developing her own personality, but sadly that personality includes a blood curdling scream all day. She is not in pain since she is smiling during her screaming times. She will also carry on with the screams when we are sitting there playing with her. She has a different cry when she is hurt, sad or hungry and doesn't scream during those times. DH and I are going nuts and the screaming makes our ears ring. Please tell me this is a very short lived phase, or give advice to make it stop.

-Lauren

[elfygp]

Well I don't have anything to help, but welcome back! Your signature still makes me laugh

[jr_lenz]

this is so funny...not that you have a screamer, but because I was thinking yesterday of posting about how Stevie has taken a turn for the better FINALY! cause she was/is a screamer. But she screamed at everything, and when she was mad she screamed louder, it was a horrible straight from hell scream. We hated taking her anywhere, and we stopped going out to eat because we couldn't take it. It was very hard on us. Our son was so easy and we took him everywhere. We were now the people who had the screaming baby that everyone looked at!

She also started her screaming about 8 months. We started working on it from the start. we just keep telling her "no screamin" which hurt her feelings and she screamed more. when she was mad and screamin we made her go to her room. Which she still does, but she does it on her own now. When she gets mad she runs down the hallway (that part is cute) and then slams the door to her room (not so cute) and stays ans plays in there until she is ready to come out. We will go an open the door to she if she is ready, which she usauly repiles with a scream and a "NO". So i just waits till she bangs on the door and yells that she is ready!

So the good news is that she did stop screamin, the bad news is that she turns two next month, and that 6 months ago the screamin was so bad that I was ready to pull my hair out!

The one thing we did for the laugh scream, is that when she would scream instead of laugh we would all start laughing big fake laughs, so she would start doing it too. It worked the best when big brother did it, she does everything that he does! but she had this big fake laugh for the longest time...that was funny.

good luck, and you can cry on my shoulder any time, in fact I made need yours, I'm sure we aren't of the woods yet!

[Bigsweetie]

Both of my girls went through a screaming phase about that age. My 2yr. old, still screams. My oldest stopped much, much earlier.

[Chi829]

Sorry to be gone so long. Baby, job, and school have left little to no personal time. But I have come crawling back because I miss you guys.

Baby Andrea, about 8 months is doing great. She is crawling and saying "dada" and "mama". She is also really developing her own personality, but sadly that personality includes a blood curdling scream all day. She is not in pain since she is smiling during her screaming times. She will also carry on with the screams when we are sitting there playing with her. She has a different cry when she is hurt, sad or hungry and doesn't scream during those times. DH and I are going nuts and the screaming makes our ears ring. Please tell me this is a very short lived phase, or give advice to make it stop.

-Lauren

Liam is 15 months old. He just started doing this about a month ago. We spoke to his ped. and it seems he does it for attention. So, her advice was not to give him attention. Don't look at him. Don't scold him. Dont tell him no. Just walk away or if you can start a conversation with someone else. Then, when the screaming stops, acknowledge them at that point and say hello to them or whatever. Liams has gotten a LOT better with doing this. He seems to do it when he is trying to tell us something. I know how aggrivating it can be. Hang in there. Hugs!

[Imachickadee75]

None of my kids are screamers, so I can't help there, but I can relate to the temper tantrums and sending them to their rooms. Zack who is just over two has a hellacious temper and screams and cries when mad. We've started telling him that we don't want to hear it and if he wants to be "ugly" he can do it in his room. We tell him not to come out until he's ready to be polite. Its funny, he'll stay in there and be mad for at least 20 to 30min then come out with a big fake smile. If you ask him if he's done being "ugly" he'll sniff and nod yes. Its pretty cute.
We don't do this if he's hurt or just sad -we want to make sure he knows that's okay. Its only when he's throwing a fit becuase he's mad. I also like the phrase "being ugly". It SO describes the behavior!

Oh, and I have some news! Zack pooped in the potty today!

[Regina]

Liam is 15 months old. He just started doing this about a month ago. We spoke to his ped. and it seems he does it for attention. So, her advice was not to give him attention. Don't look at him. Don't scold him. Dont tell him no. Just walk away or if you can start a conversation with someone else. Then, when the screaming stops, acknowledge them at that point and say hello to them or whatever. Liams has gotten a LOT better with doing this. He seems to do it when he is trying to tell us something. I know how aggrivating it can be. Hang in there. Hugs!

I agree with Jo, if the child is doing it for attention, behavior that is rewarded is repeated. Sometimes, even just acknowledging it means it will be repeated. I like Jo's idea about ignoring it....it has worked for us with a lot of things (although, I am not quite sure we have had screamers just yet.)

[trigeek]

Day three of screaming: Mom and Dad find the ear plugs

Thanks everyone, we will try a variety of things that you listed above. Hugs to everyone that has had to deal with this, I'm on day 3 and ready to just walk out the door for a few days. I can't possibly imagine continuing this until she is two!

Things that have failed or had undetermined success:
Say "no" with very mad faces: fail, screams continue
Putting in crib (right after scream): Very sad baby girl sobbing her eyes out after only a minute in crib. I'm calling this a fail as it nearly broke my heart seeing her cry like that. Almost like she knew she was being punished.
Baby einstein music played very low: less screaming, maybe she like Bach
Ignoring baby, during screams: undetemined, though I expect positive things from this
Fake laugh: haven't tried this yet, but she wasn't screaming while we were having a good chuckle earlier

[Bigsweetie]

If she's not doing it because she's mad, she's doing it because she's realized that she has a voice and she can make it LOUD!!

I agree with Jo... just ignore it. Look away and/or continue doing something else. That's what our ped. suggested as well. She isn't doing anything bad, she's just realizing different ways to express herself. It's like when they repeatedly drop things and think it's funny to watch you pick them up... over, and over, and over. If you refuse to pick it up again, they eventually get the hint.

Good luck!

[Chi829]

Another thing Bill and I do with liam (as well as my mom since she keeps him on Fridays) is we don't tell him "no". It's a negative word and don't like to use it. He's at an age where he is absorbing so many things we say and do. Kids start to hear the word "no" and sooner or later they start telling us no. if Liam is doing something we don't want him to do or something he should be doing instead of saying "Liam,No" we tell him what we want him to do instead. The other day he was pulling one of the dogs ears. Instead of using no, we said "liam, let go of her ears, that hurts Lucy" same with anything else. He likes to play in the dogs water. We just tell him, liam, leave that alone. Come here or whatever. I read about this in a baby magazine and I love it.