shrill, ear-splitting screaming

[Hungry Caterpillar]

Ugh. My one year old is a screamer. It seems to have come out of nowhere. He has a few words (Mama, Dada, Nana(banana), dooo(door), Baba(bottle), etc) but seems to have some frustrations communicating. He seems even more frustrated now that we know sometimes what he means but not other times. He does some signs (more, all done, milk) and when we have no idea what he wants, he screams. It's ear piercing. Jarring. Embarrassing!

He seems to also just scream sometimes. Like, for fun. He screams when playing with toys, screams when changing diapers, screams for the heck of it. The pediatrician said yesterday at his one year check up that this is normal and we need to ignore it. It is SO hard to ignore it. It's literally giving me a headache that will not go away.

Any advice?

[luvsviola]

I hate that phase. Luckily DD2 is coming out of it.

[OHIOFIFI]

Ug, I am totally with you on this. I wish I had advise cuz I almost lost it on my sweet baby boy today when he started doing this. It frazzles my nerves soooo bad. For DS, it usually is b/c he wants something - his penguin, his paci, his sippy, ME to hold him. I feel for you, mama

[sandrc]

They do outgrow it. I agree with the ignore it advice. If you react when they scream it'll just make them wanna do it more just to get a reaction from you. At least that's how it was with my daughter who is now 7 and only squeal/screams when she's outside playing sometimes.

[Msheidiann]

Oh yes. The screeching. We went through it...at about 7 months, then it went away, then at 10-11 months. It went away again. I am hoping it doesn't come back for a third time. It's wicked annoying.

[Ariomi]

Originally Posted by Msheidiann Oh yes. The screeching. We went through it...at about 7 months, then it went away, then at 10-11 months. It went away again. I am hoping it doesn't come back for a third time. It's wicked annoying.

^^ This exactly.

You're on the right track teaching him some signs, that and just ignoring it the best you can. I try to distract her if she's just doing it for fun, but I don't want to give her somehing consistantly and make it seem like a reward. So ignorning and distraction I would think are the best ways to go. Good luck, it will pass.

[*KaiMom*]

Ignore, ignore, ignore! I find if I react to it they do it more.

[sisu]

I turn on some music, DD starts dancing and forgets about shrieking. Even if she doesn't forget about it, the music drowns it out enough that I don't want to pull my hair out.

[judeabug]

Mine started shrieking around one year, too. He's now two and still does it, although a LOT less. If he's doing it while I'm trying to discipline him or telling him he can't do something, it's usually accompanied by a fit - so he goes to time out. If he does it while he's playing [usually when his big brother is chasing him], I say in a sing song voice, "Please stop shrieking!" That typically stops him, but I'll say it again more firmly if he doesn't stop. It's usually enough to put a stop to it, but sometimes nothing will stop it. On those day...oh, my nerves!

[jcarter]

My DD started doing this a 5 months. Sometimes out of frustration, sometimes for fun. Not much I can do, since her communication is all nonverbal. I'm hoping that since she discovered it early she'll get over it early!