The 13 month old screecher! I'm losing my mind!

[lifeas3plus1]

So as the title say's really.

My usually placid and contented 13 month old son has started screeching, really high pitched, nails on a blackboard type screeching and it's really starting to get to me!

I've tried telling him "no" in a stern voice, walking away and ignoring him, distraction and nothing seems to work.

Someone told me to keep a journal of all the times he does it and why so I could try and diffuse the situation before the need to screech but there's just no consistency to it. It's all very random. Sometimes when he's angry, sometimes when he's excited, sometimes when he's finished his dinner and sometimes just for the hell of it.

My dp said to just be patient and it's just a phase he's going through and it'll pass but he works away Monday to Friday and doesn't have to listen to it.

I was on the bus the other day with my mom and ds was getting a bit grumpy so mom was playing with him and trying to keep him occupied when he started screeching out of excitement. The lady behind me proclaimed very loudly to her friend that "if that was my child he would have been given a bloody good slap by now" (my mom nearly turned round and give her a bloody good slap) but it is getting embarrasing and know other people must be thinking what this woman said out loud.

Please reassure me this won't last forever and give me some tips on how to deal with it.

Please ignore ignorant thoughtless people who make comments like that. Was she from the "seen but not heard" generation?

My DS went through a phase like that and as far as I could tell he was doing it simply because he could, because he'd just discovered his volume control and was trying it out, for the sheer joy of it.

Obviously avoid places like public libraries and try not to get him excited when other people are trying to sleep but otherwise, it is nobody's business how much noise he makes. He's just having fun. He'll grow out of it.

lifeas3plus1, I could have written your post! My DS is also 13 months old and for the last few weeks has perfected an ear-splitting screech that actually makes my eardrums vibrate!! He, like your LO, seems to do it as a response to most things and there doesn't seem to me much of a pattern to it.

I'm trying my best to ignore it but I must admit that it's driving me mad and I have on occasion shouted "shut up!!" at him .

I think (well, hope) it's just a phase that they'll grow out of eventually.