My 8 month old son has resently found his voice.... and he wants to make sure that everyone knows about it! All of the sudden he wants to scream at the top of his lungs. When he's happy, sad, upset, irritated... really for any reason. What can I do to stop or at least quiet down the screaming? I know he is too young to discipline... I just don't want him making this a habit.
Thank you all so much for all of your responses. I've tried the 'distractions' and everyone elses volume, I think it is actually down to a minimum. With the older kids and all of their activities it can get loud and he likes to be kept occupied :) Hopefully it will continue to subside!
My second son did this around the same age. It won't become a habit and there is really nothing you can do about it. Just talk in a normal voice to him to reinforce the volume at which we should speak and wait this stage out. Good luck!!
my son did the same thing. he loved to be loud and still does. Alot of it is brought on by my 5 yr old daughter. They love to play and goof off in the car, but the noise level can be horrible. The restaurant scene is not always pretty. My advice is to do what ever it take to make him stop now before he gets so use to doing it. My son is a very happy toddler. He just likes to be loud. I have now been popping his mouth to make him stop. lately I can give him a look or call his name and he will stop for a little while. However sometimes I just let him do it for a while and get it over with cause I know he is having fun and it will end. good luck
All three of mine have had screaming stages & the two older ones moved on to other interesting noises as they grew; the third is still enjoying the screaming (she's 7 months old). Infact, she's on daddy's lap now, screaming and cooing.
I wouldn't worry about anything becoming a habit, really, He'll find other sounds he likes to make & your husband & you will be saying, "remember when he was such a sreamer?"
Ha! We called my son's scream "the dolphin" because it was so high-pitched we figured he could communicate with the dolphins!! He, too, did it whenever he felt like it. Ignoring it seemed to help the most since he loved seeing what kind of reaction he could get. He eventually moved on to something new he found out he could do. Good luck!!
Honestly, I never found a good answer to this one. My younger son had a squeal that was incredible and it came out at some very inopportune times - i.e., in church, etc. And, at 13 he is still a very chatty, animated, energetic, "look at me" kid. So, I'm not sure there is too much you can do about this - I think if you pay too much attention, that will actually just encourage the behavior. We did just ignore it and the monumental squeals did seem to abate over time. But, he is still a child that will put on a show for attention and because he has a very animated personality, it is hard to not pay attention. Since this is also your younger child, this is likely the same situation you will have. The plus side is that my younger son is very, very happy, loving and has a tremendous zest for life and I think the latter is what you're now seeing with your little one ;) And, with two older siblings, he is likely figuring out that he's got to do something extra special to get attention - babies are very, very smart :)
my son did the same thing. Really nothing you csn do about it. I would just talk in a normal voice and say " hey what are you so excited about?" And he would just look up at me like, ok you heard me. He stopped doing it in a couple of months. It wont be a habit. so no worries. :-)
good luck!!
