Help Needed W/ 8 Month Old Screaming for Attention or When Angry

Most importantly, who cares who is watching! Sorry, but it doesn't matter!

Your 8mos old isn't talking yet. He is trying to communicate. The best things you can do to help minimize the screaming is to not put him in a situation where he may scream - going out tired/hungry/etc.. teach him to sign if you aren't already. Otherwise, big deal. The more attention you draw to it, the worse it will be. Rather than focus on the people around you that are watching, focus just on him and make it your one and only job in that moment to find out what is bothering him.

Good news is this way of communicating will pass and you can help him be a better communicator at 2, 3 and so on by listening to him now and anticipating his needs/wants.

M.

You are right that it can be embarrassing when the screaming is in public and clearly not about testing out their vocals but emotional. This is a great opportunity to begin signing with your baby. If you have found this is already frustrating at this age, the further toddlers test their independance the more challenging the communication becomes since they don't yet have the fine motor skills required for comprehendable speech. In the beginning it takes a few weeks of demonstating a sign for the baby to catch on but after they pick up their first few words in sign they quickly learn new ones as you feed their brain. Our babies desperately want to tell us what is going on in their world. My daughter had 50 signs by her first birthday, my son had approx 25 on his first birthday and it has helped with many challenging situations being resolved quickly. There are great instructors all over the county, including Sign4Baby! If you are in my area or need a referral to someone closer to you contact me. Parents who have done this are amazed at the results, but it does take some work on your part to remember to be consistent each and every day. Good luck with whatever you do.

My opinion is that at 8 months he is not too young to start with correcting or managing, as much as you can, before it gets too bad. I do not have any suggetions for public, but that you have to be respectful to people around you if your child is screaming. At 8 months babies are either starting to crawl, rolling over, pulling themselves up etc...which can be very frustrating for some. My opinion is they are throwing a temper tantrum. Unless of course it is time for them to eat or they are tired or sick. At this point some of them think they can walk. Sometimes it is just a stage. I have a daycare and usually for boys it seems that the 8 month mark seems to be the frustration stage. Girls do not seem to go through it. Laying them down to change diapers there ends up being a fit, putting them in their high chairs also ends up in a fit and normally the child did not do this. Two suggestions..... First distraction! Try distracting them without picking them up. get a book, another toy or singing a song. What you want to stay away from is picking them up when they are having a temper tantrum. TRust me they will catch on and the tantrum stage will turn into tantrums all the time. The are smart and will understand that if they throw a big fit long enough you will pick them up. Try to keep it a tantrum stage. Second, a couple parents told me they do this at home and it seemed to work but the babies were a little older. They would actually put them in a time out. They would take them to a playpen or crib and lay them down. When they stopped the fit they would pick them up and take them right back to where they were throwing the fit. Usually they would throw another fit and they would go right back to the crib. After a while when they were placed into the crib they would stop crying and the tantrums became less. Good luck

I think 8 months is too young to ignore him. Definitely, when he is older (older than one yer) that seems to be the thing to do & really does work well. I think while he's this young you have to respond to his screams/needs.

my daughter started doing that to with exploring her voice at about that age(she likes to do it in church) so i know how you feel about the embarassment. she does do it at home and other places. while at home i will sometimes holler back at her because she loves the interaction i also will talk to her in a normal voice and tell her things like "oh really?" and "tell me more!" as for when we are in church or somewhere she needs to be a bit more quiet i tell her "no its time to use a quiet voice" and "sshhhh". i use i quieter voice and over a little time she started to mimmick my whisper and seems to do pretty good most of the time. my daughter is a year old now and pretty much knows what is expected of her most of the time. well i hope this helps you!