[monkeymommy]

My remarkably bright, energetic, happy 7-month-old son has recently begun screeching at the top of his lungs, in the most high-pitched, ear-piercing squeals he can muster. Sometimes he does it out of excitement, such as when we're tickling him or playing "chase" - which in that context, is totally cute and fine with us.

But most of the time he seems to do it just to hear himself screech. I don't think he feels the need for extra attention, considering he's breastfed every hour, co-sleeps even for some naps, and is lucky enough to have both mom & dad home all day - he never goes more than a minute without being held and/or played with. (Incidentally, he's doing great with infant potty training, and is unvaccinated & intact.)

We've tried everything from ignoring it to disapproving looks and stern-voiced warnings, but he seems to get a special thrill out of doing things he knows we don't want him to.

I feel that leaving him alone in his crib "until he's done screaming" is just an extension of the "cry it out" approach, a practice my husband and I find appalling. We realize it's probably just a "phase" he'll grow out of, but in the meantime our patience - and eardrums - are wearing thin!

What is the best way to gently discourage the inappropriate shrieking?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

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[Pandora114]

Quote:

Originally Posted by monkeymommy My remarkably bright, energetic, happy 7-month-old son has recently begun screeching at the top of his lungs, in the most high-pitched, ear-piercing squeals he can muster. Sometimes he does it out of excitement, such as when we're tickling him or playing "chase" - which in that context, is totally cute and fine with us. But most of the time he seems to do it just to hear himself screech. I don't think he feels the need for extra attention, considering he's breastfed every hour, co-sleeps even for some naps, and is lucky enough to have both mom & dad home all day - he never goes more than a minute without being held and/or played with. (Incidentally, he's doing great with infant potty training, and is unvaccinated & intact.) We've tried everything from ignoring it to disapproving looks and stern-voiced warnings, but he seems to get a special thrill out of doing things he knows we don't want him to. I feel that leaving him alone in his crib "until he's done screaming" is just an extension of the "cry it out" approach, a practice my husband and I find appalling. We realize it's probably just a "phase" he'll grow out of, but in the meantime our patience - and eardrums - are wearing thin! What is the best way to gently discourage the inappropriate shrieking? Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you! :

Sounds like he's experimenting. He likes the sound of his own voice. It'll die down soon enough once he discovers he can do something else.

He's only 7 months old, You can show him something else his body can do mabe try to distract his shrieking with another equally cool sound to a baby that you've never heard him make before?

But it will pass once he finds something else he finds cool. And then he'll repeat it and repeat it. It's how babies learn

 

[lurable]

It does go by very fast. our dd shrieked like crazy. Just laugh, keep your sanity and wait for it too pass. I must say though, we come from a loud house so stuff like that never bothered us, so I don't have much in the way of advise besides wait it out! Also, remembering that he's not doing it to bother you , just as healthy experimentation---that got me through a lot of situations!!

 

[kdmama33]

All of my kids have gone through the "hey I have a voice, now I'm going to show you how well I can use it" phase. DS2 was an especially energetic and voluminous screecher. (We would lovingly refer to him as "the screecher creature" when he wasn't in ear shot.

) It's just a phase, though, and will pass. Probably even more quickly if you don't show much of a reaction. I used to quietly and calmly tell DS that yes, we hear you, and yes, isn't it amazing what you can do with your voice. Beyond that, we just let him screech.

 

[Robin926]

Just another vote for "normal" and "it will pass." He's just trying out the cool new thing he can do with his voice, and honestly, I think that not making a deal out of it either way is the best way to handle it. If he's not getting a reaction, he'll move onto something else.

 

[Plummeting]

Quote:

We realize it's probably just a "phase" he'll grow out of, but in the meantime our patience - and eardrums - are wearing thin! What is the best way to gently discourage the inappropriate shrieking?

Okay, I've tried to think of the right way to respond to this, but I'm not sure I can word it properly, so please understand this isn't meant in a mean or judgmental tone.

But reading this last part, the immediate thought that comes to my mind is that the problem is your patience, not your son's behavior. You need to find a way to handle yourself. Ear plugs? Taking breaks one at a time to collect yourself? Turning on some music so his shrieks don't seem quite so loud?

The best way to handle this situation is not to discourage it. Discouraging this behavior would be like discouraging a baby from crawling, banging two blocks together or doing any other developmentally appropriate thing. He needs to do this to learn how his body and his voice works, to learn how he controls his voice.

 

[monkeymommy]

Thanks, everyone...that makes us feel alot better! Special thanks to Plummeting for pointing out the obvious: "the problem is your patience, not your son's behavior".

I realize he's just testing out his voice, not trying to bother us, and we certainly don't want to discourage his self-expression and exploration of his capabilities. Normally, DS is a perfect angel, and we count our blessings there. Didn't really think there was a way to stop him from screeching, but thought I'd ask for advice anyway! I guess we'll just keep repeating the mantra: This too shall pass!

Patience has been a bit of a commodity lately - we've spent the last 2+ months trying to get rid of a painful case of thrush that went unchecked since he was 2 wks (VERY upset with his original ped, who kicked us out of her practice for no vax instead of listening to my concerns about his health

- that's another post!). With DH doing triple-time laundry duty (DS is cloth diapered as well), me and DS on a restricted diet & taking meds 4x day, all 3 of us in the house all day every day, and the closest family an 8hr drive away...we've been feeling a little overwhelmed.

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Thanks again everyone! Hope to talk to you all again soon!