19 Month Old Screaming??

It's a phase. Screaming for the sake of making noise, and not as a part of a tantrum is quite common. You handle the two different sorts of screams differently. If it's a tantrum, ignore him. If it's screaming in a restaurant, take him out until the screaming stops. If it's screaming during meal time, take him out of his high chair and separate him from the group, telling him screaming is not acceptable. Do this consistently every time he screams. When his screaming bothers you, help him to stop screaming by distracting him with something else to do. It is a phase and will be over in a few weeks.

We were going through this w/my 20mo - screaming and WHINING. ugh. With the screaming, a firm reminder to stop screaming happens first, then "what do you want?" and try to "feed" him the words or phrases he's looking for. Same for whining, but I say "mommy can't understand you when you whine. We have to use our BEST voice. Use your words, please" and inevitably he'll say "pease!" This has been working for us as long as we're consistent and don't let it rile us too much, but man, it's nerve-wracking sometimes!

I know it's a phase brought about by the frustration that they know what they want, but don't have all of the words they need to articulate their feelings. It's a teaching opportunity for us if we can keep our wits about us and try to tune in to what they're asking for. Once I've figured it out, I don't give it to him until he has echoed the word for that item/action so he learns the association.

Good luck!

Good luck!

My son is 2.5 and hasnt stopped screaming since hes been 18months old. I always tell him to use his words instead of just screaming at me, and the screaming has slowed down but he still does it every day. It will pass Im sure. Just waiting here.

Since I hate that sound, I used to tell them "When you stop screaming, we'll talk. Until then, I'm not going to listen to you." And then I'd walk away. The screaming didn't last long when they didn't get the attention they wanted. If they were screaming because they wanted something, they did not get it until they apologized, asked nicely, and were polite.
Another thing I used to tell them was, "I can't understand you. When you stop whining and speak to me politely, we'll talk." And "Use your words, whining is for babies. You are a big kid. You are NOT a baby."
LBC

22 month doing the same piercing scream drive me crazy and sounds awful it is a phase that has been going on a few weeks and is getting louder as he find his voice. It is an awful awful phase.

It's a phase. My 18 month old doesn't have to be having a tantrum to scream, he just likes hearing himself! He'll screech like a wounded cat, then burst into laughter. Ear plugs my friend, ear plugs ;)

mine started doing that at around 13 months. It lasted until he started talking talking. It was probably just because he couldn't speak out his frustrations. It lasted until he was around 2 1/2.