12 month old shrieking - advice?

[Comtessa]

My 12 month old is in a *lovely* new stage -- shrieking. Constantly. It's worse when she's tired or crabby, but it's been pretty constant now for a couple of weeks. If she can't reach something she wants, if she sees something interesting and wants to call our attention to it, if she's bored and wants someone to pay attention to her... etc. If we ignore it, it gets louder and higher in pitch. It's seriously earsplitting. Anybody have any advice for ways to deal with it?

[Tiddilywinks]

My 8mo is doing the same thing. He shrieked the entire way through Kohl's last night. I just don't understand.

We have tried ignoring, saying no, etc. Nothing is working!

[Norasmomma]

It's a phase and they grow out of it. My DD shrieked for a looooonnnnggg time, in fact I got accosted by a very rude elderly couple for her shrieking in the grocery store. They stopped me in the parking lot and asked me if she was "mentally ill". They then told me I was a terrible mother and that I shouldn't have kids, I told them off. She was 19 months at the time and we'd tried everything to get her to stop, they just eventually grow out of it.

[firewoman]

Originally Posted by Norasmomma

It's a phase and they grow out of it. My DD shrieked for a looooonnnnggg time, in fact I got accosted by a very rude elderly couple for her shrieking in the grocery store. They stopped me in the parking lot and asked me if she was "mentally ill". They then told me I was a terrible mother and that I shouldn't have kids, I told them off. She was 19 months at the time and we'd tried everything to get her to stop, they just eventually grow out of it.

This would have ENRAGED me! I'm so glad you gave it back. I think some elderly people have a difficult time with ANY type of noise coming out of a child.

To the OP-I agree with Norasmomma that it is a phase she will grow out of. I think most of my children went through some type of phase like this. I have chosen to block it out and now I'm reminded that soon my almost eight month old may start shrieking.

[colsxjack]

Our 10.5month old DD has been shrieking for a couple of months now.
We tried saying no, we tried saying "quietly" in a quiet voice, we tried ignoring it. None of that worked. Now we just try to figure out what she wants or distract her with something else. She gets attention from us when she shrieks, but we figure that she is doing so when she needs attention.
Hopefully she will either grow out of it or get to an age and be able to be reasoned with or learn to communicate in other ways.

I find it ear piercing. Others seem to think it's cute and they smile and laugh.

[springbride]

We are there with you too. DD is 10.5 mo and loves to shriek. If we're in public and it's obnoxious, I offer her some cheerios, otherwise I usually try to ignore it.