[waitingpatiently]

MY NEW 14MO OLD SON SCREAMS AT THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS JUST TO HEAR HIMSELF SCREAM. IT IS EAR PIERCING. HE LAUGHS WHEN I SAY NO; HE DOES IT EVEN MORE WHEN I IGNORE IT. ANY SUGGESTIONS???????????/ TERRIE

[Guatmom2006]

Get some little toys from the dollar store or something and offer them to him IF he will stop screaming. Then make a big deal about him being such a good boy and not screaming throughout the day and offer him something while not in the middle of screaming to remind him he gets rewarded for not screaming. You could do it with treats too, but I'm not big on food for rewards. Give it a try...it can't hurt!

[annaguat]

Got a play pen and a porch? My now 8 year old had her special scream time out place. I could hear and see her but atleast there was the buffer of the sliding door. She is still boisterous. LOL Anna

[KJones5]

I think it's a 14 month old thing! Mine does it too!

I've noticed he is really starting to challenge us to see where the boundries are!

Bottom line, you're not alone!

[SmileLaughLearn]

I hate to tell you, but my nephew went through that phase, too, for a couple of months. My sister-in-law, who could truly win a Mother of the Year award for her parenting skills (no kidding, she's a great mom) could not, for the life of her, get him to stop. He eventually outgrew it! Hang in there!

[AddisonsMommy]

Get some ear plugs! It's a phase and it will likely not last forever.

OR, shock the hell out of him and scream back!
Seriously!! LOL!

Jen

[ZTALDY]

posting from the Russia board...I have a screamer and he is almost 2.5 and still does it. THey called him "little tiger" at the baby home in Russia even at 6 months, due to his scream. I just try to distract him. He did it this morning when I dropped him of at pre-school. He just screamed and was not happy about being left..the second day of 2 year old pre-school. The teacher located a toy train and he was then occupied for the entire 3 hours he was there. He still had the train in hand when I came to pick him up....so try to redirect him.

You are not alone....it has gotten better however...

[Babybmine]

My daughter at 16 months is still a screamer. It is a high pitched, window shattering sound. The first time she did it, we thought she was hurt. And then it became routine. I have noticed that she does it when she is finding it hard to express how she feels, what she wants etc. So usually I ask, different questions to try to narrow down what the problem is. She is very good about telling me yes, when I get it right. Doing this type of "investigation" while she is screaming has lessoned the amounts of times she does it.
Carla

[guatamama]

I want back in to the screaming problem, the whining is worse! My soon to be 5 year old is so intoooooo whining!!! It like nails on a chalkboard to me!

I screamed with him when he was in the screaming stage, I would scream and than laugh like crazy, he thought it was hysterical. It lasted for about a week. After I started screaming with him, I switched to whispering inbetween. After a while, he wanted to whisper instead of scream. He gotta lot of attention when it was a whisper instead of a scream!

[CurlysGirly]

I totally agree with Guatamamma! It's a way to try to communicate and the 1st part of talking, realizing "hey, I can make these sounds". I do it right back and then laugh and change it to a talk. Turns it into 2 way communication. To mimmic their talking encourages them to mimmic you.

[JohnnaMJH]

My son has done that too and when I saw that, I realized that now, at 19mos, he does it a lot less. We did teach him some signs, for eat and more and all done, and that seemed to help with some of his frustration. When he wants something now, he gestures and grunts or tries to talk vs. shrieking. I know it is grating. A couple of times I was on the phone and my friends would be, whoooa, what is that??

[Slatond10]

It is a phase... My DD (21 mo now) did it about the 14mo time frame. When we were at home I would just scream along with her to show it was ok in that environment. When we were out in public... I would "shshshsh" very softly to her and she would end up "shshshshsh'ing" too. DD had excellent communication skills even b4 being verbal so maybe I did not experience it as much as others. She also uses some sign language ( eat, drink, finish, play...etc)

Course every child is different. Guess you will have to experiment and see what works. Good luck!