How can I make her stop screaming?

One of my girls LOVES to scream! I think she does it for attention, because often time she looks over at me right before or while she's doing it. It is so loud and annoying! She's only 14 months and has no idea what the word "no" means yet. Is there anything I can do to make her stop?! I am losing my mind!

 

I know what you are going though Katrina would do that too, it drove me crazy :crazy: . There is two things you can do: 1. ignore it (which I know is really hard to do. But you know she wants attention from doing it so if she doesn't get any then maybe she will stop. 2. When she screams just pick her up and put her in another room and walk away. Of course you have to make sure the room is baby proof, but she will learn then that if she screams she gets no attention for it but then she also gets taken away from everyone too. Then when she stops screaming you can go and get her. Of course while you are doing this explain to her why you are doing it. I know she's still young so explaining isn't going to do much but if you are consistent then she will get the point just from your actions.

 

IMO a 14 month old can understand "no." They may not obey or even give any sign that they understand, but they do.

That said, it may not be the best approach. My DDs sometimes interpret "no" as a request from mommy to please do it again. My approach to things like screaming (assuming the child isn't trying to express a genuine need) is to get down close to her, face to face, and say calmly "I can't hear you when you scream" and then ignore it.

This also may be a short phase. A lot of the kids in my DDs' daycare class have gone through screaming phases now & again, just because they think it sounds cool.

 

Thanks for the input. Usually when I tell the girls "no" they smile and laugh and shake their head back and forth. So they know the word, but they don't know what it means. I've tried speaking to her in a lower and more serious tone, but she thinks that's funny too. There have been a couple of times where I've put her in her crib and closed the door, mostly to give myself some time to collect myself because I get pretty frustrated. I suppose I just have to wait for the phase to pass!

 

Bad attention is better than no attention at all! :blbl:

I would do like pp said, tell her calmly that you do not understand what she is trying to tell you when she screams and ignore. If you give the screaming attention she is succesful, after all, you gave her attention. She will get bored with it if you consistently ignore it. Praise her if she dacides to tell you something calmly and make sure she gets attention for good behaviour.

To avoid communication frustration we started some signing and it really helped!

Good Luck, hopefully it's just a phase.