"The Scream"

I have a 6 month old as well who does this, which is my 3rd one by the way and all 3 of mine have done this. It's a baby's way of communicating with you because they cannot talk yet. Perfectly normal. Honestly I'm kind of floored by some of the responses saying that you should be getting this under control b/f they become a toddler. What a joke. This is a developmental stage that most babies go through and people should just be glad that their baby can make any noises at all when there are so many out there that have alot of problems and parents that would give anything to hear their child make some sort of sounds.

My 7 1/2 month old girl screams in delight, screams to protest, screams to make sure you can hear her! :) It's how she "talks" to my 2 1/2 year old also.
Don't worry about it.
I do tell my daughter "shh" and place a finger on my mouth and then I start whispering. She smiles and screams some more. :)
I agree with the other mothers to not worry about it. Just carry on a conversation with her.

She's finding her voice =) She just discovered that she can make it do different things: change volume, change pitch, etc. Totally normal!

HI A.! It's totally normal! She is just finding her voice and is pretty pleased with herself! Don't worry, it's not an attention thing! And it will pass. :)

my son does that too and he is 13 months he has been doing it since about 4 months. i do tell him "not so loud" but he is only trying to communicate he doesn't do it when he is angry or mad only when he is playing. I think it is cute.

one of my boys did that for a while to. he learned to scream and thought it was hilarious... i just played along with him and gave laughed at him and within a few weeks he moved on to other things... it wasn't fun anymore i guess

My daughter just turned 6mos. and is doing the EXACT SAME thing.

She will make noise, then get louder and turn it into a high pitched screetch. She loves attention too!

It's normal they just found their voices and are experimenting with it. It's a phase. Last week mine was into making kissy noises with her lips non stop, the week before she was into sticking her tongue out.

I do tell my 6mo.old to shhhh... no screaming! I'm sure she doesn't understand but because it's so annoying and will not be tolerated as good behavior when she's a toddler I've decided to already show her mommy doesn't think it's cute. My older daughter was saying shhhhh this is a library ssshhhh it is very annoying. I don't give her attention for her screams, her kissy noises and being cute yes lots of attention.

If you don't like the screaming then just say ssshh. make lots of unhappy facial expressions to show her that mommy doesn't like this. Don't give her attention for this or she'll go nuts with it. Then when she does something cute or funny give lots of attention. That's my theory anyways. I'm sure alot of people will disagree that you shouldn't be so harsh on a baby but I believe in starting young. Nip it now before you have a toddler that thinks it's cute.

Our son was like this. It was a phase. I think they do it to show you that they can! Of course still likes to scream. Heh. I think as long as you don't react too strongly one way or the other it will become a non-issue. Enjoy this time! It's one of my favorites!

The key is not respond in any way when she actually screams. I know it's probably hard to ignore, but that's really the only way (that I've ever heard of) to curb the behavior. At 6 months, she won't understand if you try to tell her not to do that, etc.

Totally normal! It makes me laugh, because my daughter totally did this too. She's still very vocal at 4! (blah blah blah blah blah!) :)

Hi A.,
You had me glancing back into my boys' baby books -- thanks! : ) I believe your baby is just continuing to experiment with her voice. Yes, she'll love the attention, but she might just be smiling after she screams because she's pleased with herself for making such an interesting, powerful sound. It should be a stage that will pass, but if it's bothering you, just try not to give her attention when she screams and keep giving her attention when she's not screaming.
Enjoy!
S. (SAHM of a 4yr old and 18 mo old)

As a matter of fact, it is very normal for your little one to scream like she does. If you want to break her of it, all you need to do is just gently flick her in the mouth when she does it and tell her "no, that hurts mommy's ears"....if you continue to do it, she will be broke of it within one week. And no, I am not telling you to hurt her or be rough or mean or anything of the sort. Just a swift, gentle flick will break her of the screaming.