-.- Help! Screaming Banshee Baby! O_e

I also suffered from postpartum depression with my three children. They react to your stress. I know it is hard but try to calm yourself when she starts screaming and get down at her level and try to talk to her. My three and half year old is very demanding and the more I try to be the strong parent the more stubborn she gets. I have found the quiet approach on her level tends to work better and it seems to help my stress level too. If I remember to do it before "I overreact"
Hope this helps! Write back I have had lots of experience with post partum depression good and bad I would love to help!

My son will do this for no apparent reason as well, although we don't have neighbors to worry about. Our pediatrician told us the ONLY thing we could do, so long as he didn't really need anything, was to ignore it. Positive or negative reactions only encourage them to do it more. So we ignored it and ignored it and ignored it and after about 2-3 weeks (seems like forever) it did get a lot better. Now he only does it if he gets really excited about something and only for a second or two. It's hard to ignore it, but I think if you do so consistently it will work.

Good luck :-)

Hi A.,
I also had a daughter that did this. She really liked to do this all of the sudden in the car when I was driving! I almost wrecked several times....I will tell you, in all honesty....it is a faze and she WILL grow through it. I had to pray my way through it to keep my sanity. It really DID help. Since you have 3 kids (so did I), this is her way of getting attention (even if it is negative). My daughter seemed to like the drama of everyone else, you know, the people who reacted to her screaming, that made her do it all the more! I know I would put her in her crib or playpen every time she would scream for a couple of minutes. When she did it in the car, I would pull over (no matter where I was) and stop until she was quiet. And I would tell her, " We will not move until you are quiet". In the grocery store, I would leave everything in the cart and leave the store and come back when my husband could watch her at home. Hang in there, it WILL get better. Take care, C.

Sounds a little like my house. My son is 16 months and screams for the fun of it as well. We really enforce the sign language, at one year its not too late, she will pick up very quickly.
Also, I read in a book that if you talk to your toddler the way they talk to you, they understand better. say she says no,no,no, say it back to her the same way she says it to you, even in the same voice. If I do this with my son he immediatly stops and looks at me in a completelly different way. If she isnt talking yet, or just babbles, do what she is doing in the same tone/voice, it might startle her a little bit but it will get her attention. We have started doing time outs with our son, he sits on the bench for 60 seconds. I set a timer and when the bell rings he gets down, we discuss and he gives a hug. Hang in there, but really try the sign language, it might take away all the screaming but it sure helps because she will be able to talk to you thru signing...you can even get your other kids involved, they might find it fun.

My 18 month old also does this. We just ignore him. Sometimes he stops rather quickly but sometimes he carries on for a while.

Unfortunately, all you can really do is ignore it. It may be frustrating but it will get better. My son tends to be on the impatient side and we are trying to teach him that he can cry and scream to get what he wants. He has to act/ask nicely and then he may get his .... etc. Good luck.

Usually they scream because it works great, it grabs your attention and alot of people will do ANYTHING to get the screaming to stop so they give in and give the child whatever they want and the child now has control and it's turned into one BIG game.

Ignore her screaming, walk away out of the room. Carry on with a conversation, continue doing whatever you were doing just don't let her know you even notice her.