Does anyone else have a no-reason-for-it screamer?

[Darkmere]

DD is nearly 8 months and has been screaming for no apparent reason for months. She quite often smiles while she does it so I don't think its scream of pain or discomfort, just her way of communicating. But it is incessant and quite draining as it is so bloody shrill and loud!

I kind of hope it will stop when she is formulating proper words (at the moment all we are getting between shrieks is nananananana) but wondered if anyone with older DCs thought it sounded familiar.

Yes!
I have 3 DCs and DS1 did exactly the same thing at the same age. It just seemed that he had discovered a new trick and so he did it mainly for pleasure! It certainly wasn't due to any discomfort or distress.
Thankfully he learnt to talk very quickly and grew out of it within a few months!
I had almost forgotten about it til I saw your post! He is now 12 and perfectly 'normal'!
I remember I used to feed him dried apple rings and dried mango when I was shopping to avoid the shreak in embarrassing places....
Good luck, I'm sure it wont last long.

Thanks andlip.. It does seem like she just wants to talk but it does drive me mad.

Good to know it didn't last forever for your DS.

It's an awful stage, just coming out of it with ds2. He still does it now and again and scares me witless. It's the pitch that just goes through you! Don't worry, it will pass..

Agree that food bribery is definitely the way in busy places. I remember a hideous experience stuck with a shrieky 9mth old ds1 in an echoey Greek airport departure lounge for what seemed like days..

I used to...but she's 7 now!

Thinking about it still makes me shiver though. She stopped with the screaming when she could talk and has been a delight ever since .

She shouts at everything but saves her most blood curdling screams for the poor cat. This probably means she loves him the best but it makes him scarper pretty quick!

Thank goodness your dcs have all grown out of it... filling me with hope!