The Screeching Has to Stop!

It's a hard age because they don't know how to express their frustration well and everything seems to frustrate them. I had great luck with my kids by pretending to be very concerned but not being able to understand. "What did you want honey? I can't understand you. Can you use a nice voice?" The minute they would use the correct word I'd say something like "Oh you want some milk. Now I understand. Thanks for using a nice voice so I'd know."

Congrats with your upcoming little one. Children are such a gift.

My son is a screamer/screecher too at 18 months old (and w/ my 3 yr old to egg him on, too!), so the best method was for me to say what he wanted (You want your milk? Say, Milk please!), wait for some kind of non-screeching response, give the milk, and then IGNORE the screeching. Ignoring it curbed it the best and made me less annoyed.

hi-take a deep breath this too shall pass (oh god i sound like my mother.)

my son did this as well. he has just stopped screaming and now points to EVERYTHING from the second he wakes up to when he finally crashes at 745.

he moved on to grunting. not as ear peircing but just as annoying.

ignore him. it sounds mean but dont give in. try the parrot game this is a cup can you say cup-its mind numbing all day but it might help him learn the language to tell you what he wants-if all else fails ask him to point to what he wants. my son will point to a cabinet and ill pull out a box of crackers and if its no he shakes his head and says nu-ah if yes he does this little dance all over head shake. it took about 2 days to "retrain" him to do this instead of the meltdown screaming stuff.

i hope this helps,
K.

i feel your pain! my daughter began to screech pretty early and her dr. said it was because she couldn't communicate her needs and was frustrated, so he suggested i start teaching her words and pointing to just about everything in sight until i got the right one. it stopped the screeching and moved on to grunting...not sure which bothered me more, but focusing on her glare (as she would look directly at what she was wanted) and as time went on, she beganto use words. is your son using a pacifier? i also realized that was part of the reason she wasn't talking...because she refused to let go of her pacifier. so i got all my family/friends/ and anyone else that tried to speak to her to say "i can't understand you with the pacifier in your mouth" and she would get so frustrated about being ignored, that she would pull it out and speak (as best as she could at that age). so i was able to concur two things with one stone.

Congratulations!
Absolutely-this is a time to ignore your child (if you possibly can) until he can communicate the way he knows he should. Sometimes when toddlers learn a new skill like talking, they freak out because they're not sure how to use it, or if they even want to make the effort.Nails on the blackboard are hard to live with, but it WILL stop! Good luck.