Matthew has up until now been a really happy baby, he rarely cries, can settle himself and easily amused. However for the last week whenever he is tired/fed up/wants out his pram etc rather than cry he either whines or just screeches (very high pitch I might add) he turns himself bright red with his efforts until he gets what he wants!

Personally, I find crying easier to manage thah shrieking is this just me?

He has developed a right wee temper last few days, he has been teething lately but not really bothering him last few days.

Any advice on how to try and mange his temper, he's only a baby I know but dont want him to be one of them kids who screams and demands all the time, I want my smily baby back.....x

ps. my ears are literally still ringing from his screeching trying to get him to nap there x

Oh yes, Ruby does the shrieking thing. A couple of weeks back I could've written that post myself.

However - I strongly believe that he (and Ruby) are way too young for temper tantrums. I've come to the conclusion that it's overtiredness and boredom that causes Ruby to scream. I don't think they even know what they want when they're shrieking, it seems like a general frustration to me. Like, 'I don't know what I want, but it's not this'!

A friend said her baby does it when she really wants something in her mouth, and I've tried handing Ruby toys to chew on when she's shrieking, and it seems to work. However that might be because the boredom has been cured...

Let's hope for the sake of our eardrums that it's a short phase

Hi

Not sure if this will be much help, but i will tell you what worked for me, when Finley was about 6 months. When he used to get himself in a bit of a temper! if he was not in his pram then i would put him in it and just walk him around the block. Even if this did not have the effect of stoping the screams it some how made it better that i was in an open space. The screams are always louder when you are stuck indoors. The key is too distract if possible!

Finley is two now and he hardly ever has temper tantrums but if he ever does i take him to his room, shut the door and wait for him to calm down and then go in for a cuddle!

alys does this and im sure its one of the "i dont know what to do with myslef" moments for her, i dont think its temper hun, i tend to pick her up and walk around the place with her she soon calms

xx

Lottie's had a few of these moments to... she's either after my attention/requires something to chew on - teething badly at the moment... or she's in need of a nap, depending on the time of the day and her other tell tale signs, I can usually work out what it is.

Hope for your sake hun (and your poor ears) that you figure out what he's trying to tell you!!

Darwin does it too. Sometimes it seems like simple frustration - he might have dropped/thrown something and can't get to it (or can't see it any more if it's behind him) or I'm trying to feed him and really he's thirsty (in which case he'll shriek until I figure it out and give him some water, then he calms right down).

Other times I think it's pain related - he's going through teething hell right now, he just got four teeth at once and more are on the way. He seems to lose patience very quickly when he's sore; if he's had ibuprofen his attention span really increases and he's much sunnier.

What I do is take a deep breath and go through a mental checklist:
- Is he in pain from his teeth?
- Is it hunger/thirst?
- Is he bored with what he's doing?
- Has he been in one place/position for too long?
- Does he need a diaper change?
- Is it discomfort (hot, cold, pinching diaper)?
- Did he fling a toy away and now can't find it?
- Did the dog steal his cracker/toy?
- Did the cat get tired of having its hair pulled and leave the room?

When in doubt, I pick him up and tell him I love him and I'm trying to fix what's wrong. That's how I discovered that sometimes the shrieking means nothing more than 'mama, come back into the room and HUG ME!!'

think this sums Matthew up in a nutshell!

Thanks everyone, with no ill feeling im glad its not just me who has a shrieker in the house haha your experiences have helped alot as this is new behaviour for him, but he's growing and developing so obv changes and new behaviours will come out xx