Posted by
kiwimmc
16 yrs ago
My 10 month old has found her voice and decided to let out ear shattering high pitch screams. There doesnt seem to be a pattern to what initiates them - she is not typically unhappy when she does it, so I think it is just her exxcersising her vocal range.
We have tried talking to her very quietly, distracting her, saying no firmly etc. Anyone have any suggestions - or do I just have to live out this phase. Only concern is I am doing a 10 hour flight with her shortly and it is not going to be fun if we dont find a solution of some sort.
Please support our advertisers:
Z
16 yrs ago
Any time she does this, immediately put her down in a safe spot and walk away. By immediately, I mean within 5 seconds, not 5 minutes. You can say "no shrieking" or whatever [keep it down to 2 words] as you are setting her down, but at this age, attention [both negative and positive] is like crack cocaine, and the quickest way to break a bad habit is to have it result in NO attention. Let her stop making the unpleasant noise, then wait for a bit [less than a minute] and then go back to her and give her a big dose of positive attention -- peekaboo, nose rubs, belly tickles, whatever she likes best these days. Lather, rinse, repeat. If you are 100% consistent, it will be over in 3 days. If you are 95% consistent, it may last for months.
Please support our advertisers:
Agreed with Z. Kids, especially young ones, do a lot of things just to (see if they) get attention. If you give attention, including negative attention (telling off etc) they will typically continue. If you instead put her down and walk away, she will stop doing it since she gets negative pleasure from it.
Incidentally exactly the same method works with puppies misbehave. ;)
Please support our advertisers:
-sa
16 yrs ago
Thank you, I was wondering how to stop it too! We thought it was funny at 10 months and then at 12 months, we were very embarrassed by the excited shrieking for 4 hours on a flight and then later in the week at a high tea. Yes, it was us trying to hide our faces.....
Please support our advertisers:
Any other advise .. have tried the putting down and walking away and she just crawls after us screeching like crazy. It mainly seems to be happening at meal times I must admit so by the time I have her out of the highchair and into a safe spot it isnt 2 seconds, but we are consistently doing this - sometimes up to 20 times during a meal. It isnt doing much for my digestive system either.
Please support our advertisers:
It takes a lot of patience. These behaviors takes months to "fix", and they still reoccur, or more accurately the kids discover new ones.
Just don't give up! ;)
Please support our advertisers:
Z
16 yrs ago
The other thing that you can do if it is mainly happening at meal times is to end his/her meal immediately. This is generally hard on the parents, but it is important that if you go this route, there is nothing more to eat until the next scheduled mealtime. You basically are looking for natural consequences [as opposed to consequences that you impose] that take all of the fun out of the undesirable behavior.
I will admit, though, that my 14mo loves to throw utensils during mealtime -- it amuses his 3yo sister tremendously. The natural consequence of his parents not dealing with this behavior [end both of their meals?] is that they aren't going to be taking the kids out of the house at mealtimes for a while. So, I'm better at preaching than at practicing.
Please support our advertisers:
my daughter went through this phase too, but i just didn't do anything particular. i jsut ignored her by just continuing to do whatever we were doing like nothing had happened. She kept it up for about 3 weeks and she just stopped doing it. I had just thought she was trying out her vocal chords.
You said taht she does thsi often during meal times and in the highchair. could it be that she doesn't want to eat and want to get out of the high chair? if so, maybe by taking her out, you're giving her what she wants.
Please support our advertisers:
You must be logged in to be able to reply.
Login now
Copy Link
Facebook
Gmail
Mail