Screaming Infant

[admit1]

I have a 10 month old who, for the past month or so, screams for no reason.  He can be playing nicely with his toys and then just start a blood curdling scream.  We can be out shopping and for no, apparent, reason scream his head off.  We've tried a lot of different things that friends have suggested such as ignoring him, but he just keeps going.  We've tried putting him in a "cool off" area but he stops for long enough to be taken out and start playing again before he starts up.  We've tried to blow in his face to stop him from screaming but this has just turned into a game.  Placing a finger over his mouth and telling him not to scream also does not work out all.  Getting down to his level and asking him to stop screaming does nothing.  I'm starting to get very frustrated and I have no idea what else to try to get him to stop screaming.  Any advice would be appreciated.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Does the screaming indicate distress, or does he seem fine? Children do not act for no reason. It's more a matter of figuring out what the reason is. If he is not in distress, not frustrated, etc., it is safe to ignore the behavior. Now it may be his manner of gaining your attention. Does it appear to be so? If you handle it by ignoring it (assuming he's not in distres) over time the behavior will stop. This will be particularly so as he develops use of language, but he's young for that right now.

[abbymaesmom]

A related discussion, Infant Screaming was started.