My 2 Year Old Son Screams and Shreeks like No Other!

My first instinct is to ignore him. My guess is he realizes it gets a rise out of you so he does it for attention. It might take awhile, but maybe if you ignord him constistenly when he did it, he might grow tired of it?

What is working for my 2 1/2 year-old is consistent time-outs. Time out in the room didn't work because he could play with toys. Ignoring also didn't work. Since he doesn't speak yet, I know that some of the frustration is from not being able to communicate. I first go to him and ask him to show me what he needs. If he won't show me or accept my help then i tell him he has to stop or have a time out. I have a special chair (with straps) that I put him in so that he can't go anywhere. He is not allowed to get out until he stops screaming. When we are out, I use the stroller. At first, he didn't really understand, and he had to go in the chair a lot. But now, when I tell him that he has a choice between being quiet or having a time out, he will often stop his bad behavior. By the way this works for most bad behaviors (throwing, hitting little brother, etc.) One important thing is to try to keep your anger from showing. This is tough because they know exactly how to get a rise out of you. But kids respond best to actions. I try to very calmly give him his choices (sometimes its hard if he's screaming loudly) then without more than one warning, pick him up and put him in the chair, saying nothing more than "that's too bad, you chose to have a time out"

Oh my, K.; you have your hands full with three babies under the age of 5. Your little man is frustrated as he cannot communicate what he needs yet. Therefore, the screaming and maybe even tantrums. I am a Grandma twice and single parent for so many years with little ones. My answer/advice would be (no matter what) you have to sit with this little man more....and more and more; doing something like building blocks...talking.....stroking....practicing communication. Any kind. Loving tonality... Get the other children to do the same. Finally; he will trust some kind of understood communication and give up the screaming. Good luck.

Grandma in Port Townsend

The first thing I would do is have a check up with the doc to make sure his hearing is okay. If it is I would do the following:

Choose a room and empty it of all toys if you can and most of anything else that he can find to climb on or find interesting.

Each time he screams, pick him up and put him in this room. Get one of those locks you can put on the door knob (babies r us). Don't let him out until he stops. Do this every time he screams.

The first day will be horrible so be prepared. Maybe even the second will be two, but eventually it will get better.

There are two things that you will need to do to be successful. Stay calm and each time he screams put him in that room. It may help if you can find someone to take your other sons for part of the day.

If you, yourself find a need to raise your voice or scream, go outside and down the block a bit before you scream. Then let loose, because I can't imagine you not wanting to.

Good luck.

Hi Kim,
I am wondering how his speech is? Is he able to communicate with you? Is he just screaming to hear himself? I know how you feel though! My daughter was totally like that. I could not stop her and I did not know why she was until later on, but if he has words and speech, I would think it is because he can get a reaction out of. If he does not have any language yet, he could be trying to communicate. good luck and feel free to ask me any questions you might have with the screaming..It can be really hard!!

I do need help myself, too! I have 18 months old son. I searched many answers on google and sometimes they do help. Dealing with tantrum, screaming, shreeks baby can be frustrating and now I am more frustrated bcuz I live in an apartment and received complaint from the neighbor told me to keep my son from screaming. How do I prevent that? Its bad enough I have to deal with screaming baby now I have to deal with a complainer neighbor.

Sounds familiar. My son has been doing this since he was 13 months old (he's now 26 mos) and it's b/c he's frustrated he can't communicate (like his older sister who's 4). I've tried several of the above, i.e. timeouts, spending time with him, etc and found the most helpful to be:

First I tell him "that's not how we ask for something, please use your words". Then I don't react and go on with whatever I was doing. Then when he makes an attempt to say 'please', 'book', 'truck', or come and get me, I praise him and make him feel really good and give him what he wanted. Believe me, at first you aren't in the mood for praise since the streaming is raising the hair on the back of your neck. It works. I also spend a lot of time reading books and working on developing my son's vocabulary. He's coming along. He still streams since it's his first response but he doesn't do it all the time and he catches himself b/c he has a sad face when he does it.

I must say it's hard to completely ignore your 2 year old when they don't have the vocabulary yet. That's why I altered my approach to instruct him on what he's supposed to do. Sometimes he just screams for no reason and I use timeouts in his bedroom for this. I tell him that "we are all having fun and when he's ready to have fun we would like you to join us. You need to use your manners, we don't scream, it hurts my ears and it's not nice." And sometimes I say/sing, "It's so sad, it's so sad, someones not being so sweet." This really gets his attention.

Good luck. It will take time but any improvement feels great.

Walk away (if it's safe to do so that is) ignore the behavior - if he's throwing a fit step over him and leave the room. Tell him that when he speaks to you in his regular 'big boy' voice you'll talk to him, othwise you won't. Worked for me..(worked with the whiney one too)

My friend recently told me something that has helped with her 2 year olds tantrums. She goes to his level and dramatically in a louder voice says: I see you really are mad! or That makes you feel mad! Anyway she is going to his level and relating to how he's feeling and it has worked with her to pull him out of it when he's acknowledged.