Why babies screech

Someone who lived through the screaming baby years. And bounce, just bounce. It gets all the bubbles up and they love it. Yelling back doesn't work. Harvey Karp. He has a host of techniques for soothing a baby. I used it after my 2nd baby and really wish I'd had it with the first. Good luck, you'll get through this!

My daughter was also absolutely the loudest screamer anyone had ever heard. An ear-splitting cry when she was upset. Like your son, she was an intense baby, although generally good-spirited and smiley and happy, too. Her loudness lasted from about 1 month of age until 11 months old, and then the volume of her cries just melted away.

I don't know why, but now she's just a normal volume girl. She's two. I actually think that her extremely loud cry melted away right about the time she had her first serious cold. Her voice got hoarse and then the ear- splitting just never came back. SO, my advice to you I bet he'll outgrown it, and then you and your husband will just laugh about it. As for dealing with it at the present time, we found that bringing our daughter outside or to the window when she was screaming helped to jolt her out of it and she often quieted down.

In the nighttime, we found that bringing her to see a lighted candle also seemed to work magic. I think just seeing the light is suddenly captivating and snaps them out of the screaming rut they're stuck in. Good luck! Hang in there! I had to respond to your post. I have a four year old daughter who sounds a lot like your son. She has always had an exceptionally shrill, loud, piercing voice. As a baby her screams were always the ones to draw attention and, even now as a preschooler her voice is loud, and if she is upset, shrill and piercing.

She's an intense little person, although delightful, smart, amusing and often sweet. I wouldn't trade her for anything, but oh if I could only dull down her voice a bit. Hopefully with a boy you won't have the shrill problem. I don't really know what to say to help.

I am from a quiet, soft-spoken family, relish silence and am deeply effected by too much noise. It can get on my every last nerve - especially now that I also have a fairly loud two year old boy as well, nothing compared to his sister, but no shrinking violet and getting louder to compete with his sister.

For me it has been and continues to be the single hardest part of parenting. The noise, if it just wasn't for the noise I could be a perfect parent, I swear. As it is, it is the one thing that makes me lose my temper - more often than I would like. All I can offer as advice is to, first of all not worry - it sounds like you already know it's just the way he is.

Secondly, get silence where you can - relish it, savor it, bathe in it. Turn up the music really loud in the car when you have too. Try to frame it positively - they are sure to be confident, exuberent, fun, lively people. I also watch my daughter when she is really emotional - happy, silly, upset, angry, and she really can't help it. Even when I try and work with her on modulating her voice and tone, she has a really hard time controlling it when she's upset.

When I see her trying, it helps me feel less angry about it, because it does make me angry sometimes. I also try to look at it as my karmic test in some way. The universe seems to know where we are most in need of a challenge and throw that at us with our kids - here, you find too much noise difficult? Deep breathing helps. Holding my crying child with my ears ringing has certainly been one of my greatest tests. When they're old enough I swear I'm going to run off to a Zen monastery for a month long silent retreat.

Hi ''Buying More Earplugs,'' We had a screamer colicky too who is now going on four years old. I wore earplugs with those plastic strings attached around my neck for over five months. Some days I frantically search for them great wardrobe accessory.

I did take him to a chiro. He's fine now and a very spirited child. My husband couldn't handle fifteen minutes with the screamer which resulted in me doing most of the work and burning myself out. Make sure you take care of yourself and go away for a much needed vacation; I went on a women's retreat which helped but one wkend is not long enough.

I listened to quite a few books and it helped me to get out of my pyjamas on a daily basis. Recovering 1st time mom. I also had an extremely loud baby. I always felt incredibly embarassed at the mother's group because my baby had two stages: nursing and crying.

It started to get better about six months, though there were often loud tantrums until about 3. The good thing was my baby turned into an early talker and could start complaining in words though it was kind of strange that the kind of things you expect in toddlers who don't have words would come up in yelling words. She was intense, but appropriate in preschool, and bonded strongly with several of the teachers. Now, years later, my child is an emotionally intense, smart, creative, empathetic, school-age person.

What helped: nursing whatever was the cause of the lack of balance, nursing helped settle her , moving about in the world -- the screaming was most at home, or in other people's homes, help from friends, the baby swing, time off babysitting didn't work until 10 months, but then it was a lifesaver.

I was also advised that if the screaming didn't stop to put her down for 10 minutes and go into another room. My husband and I would also spell each other, so each got some time ''off. In my experience, we didn't end up with a mellow child, but we have a fun, affectionate child. Take care. Been there. Hi, I am responding to the parents who are concerned about their ''screaming'' infant. I can suggest that you take your child to see our family's chiropractors to have some cranial sacral work done.

There may be some tension in your baby's skull or spine from normal growth that needs to be alleviated. I have found this type of care to help a lot with my son. He has had chiropractic adjustments since his birth and he's a relatively calm boy at six years.

He also never had a serious ear infection. The one time that he complained of ears hurting, it was corrected after a couple of adjustments. Also, they specialize in child healthcare and I trust them with all health concerns for my family. Please call Drs. Aaron Rosselle and Eileen Karpfinger at to speak with them about your child's issue.

Hi, I was wondering if anyone has advise on dealing with an 11 mos old girl that loves to scream or screech. It's extremely high pitched and hurts the ears. She does this for various reason, wanting something, she's eating, upset, just because It's driving us crazy!

I saw some old posts but was wondering if anyone has any new suggestions. Our daughter does this too. We try to ignore it. We definitely don't give her whatever it is that she wants when she's doing the screeching. I tried screeching back, but that didn't work. I'm preparing myself for years of this Mom to screecher. My 13 month old son has developed a blood-curdling scream, which he uses with great frequency.

It is sometimes but not always a sign of being upset- sometimes he just seems to be trying it out. The problem is, I really cannot stand it anymore. In the car, I feel like it's actually dangerous, as it startles me, and I'm afraid I'll have an accident. The rest of the time, I'm just walking around with a permanent headache, and I feel like I'm constantly on edge. I've read through the archives, and based on what's there I'll add: he is not yet speaking; we're working on sign language and he has a few signs; and I'm trying hard to provide him with words for what he wants or needs.

But my question is: is there a way to STOP, or at least greatly decrease this behavior? I'm really afraid I'm going to snap. Thanks for ANY advice you may have! My toddler twins sometimes scream for seemingly no reason though sometimes it's clear they're doing it to amuse themselves. What I do is start singing, in a calm, not-too- loud way. Then they stop screaming. I have a daughter who was an incredible screamer until she started talking.

What worked for us was a little re-training. It took a while, but if she screamed while we were at home, I told her ''its okay to scream outside, but not inside the house. If it was raining or dark, I'd tell her ''its okay to scream in your crib with the door closed, so you don't hurt mommy's ears'' and I'd bring her upstairs and put her in her crib with the door closed.

If she screamed in the car, AND if there was a safe place to pull over not on the freeway, but maybe pull off at an exit , I'd pull the car over and tell her that I was getting out of the car until she was done screaming.

Then I'd park and stand right outside of the car for a minute or two. The infant cry: what can it tell us? Current Problems in Pediatrics ;26 9 Analysis of infant crying. Biobehavioral assessment of the infant. A statistical analysis of cry patterns in normal and abnormal newborn infants.

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Child Development ;52 1 Behavioral dimensions and cry sounds of infants of differential fetal growth. Adults' perceptions of experimental modifications of durations of pauses and expiratory sounds in infant crying. Developmental Psychology ;28 6 Use of this site is subject to our terms of use and privacy policy. Registry Builder New. Screaming and Screeching Reviewed on January 21, Here's what's behind your child's noisy vocal demonstrations — and what you can do to turn the volume down on toddler screaming.

Why it happens: It may look like mischief, but at this age, children are just having fun experimenting with yet another thing they've discovered they can do — in this case, create sound admit it — sometimes yelling is just plain fun! More About Toddler Communication. Toddler Speech Milestones.

Toddler Language Slipups.