I have an eight month old son who has always been amazingly well behaved. Up until recently, he has had a great temperment and really never cried. Now, all of a sudden, he's a raging meanie. He will be fine one second and the next second he's SCREAMING. If he wants a bottle, he will scream the whole time I'm making it. If he wakes up from a nap, he's screams as soon as his eyes are open. This is not your run of the mill crying or whimpering, this is screeching and squealing and screaming to put banshees to shame. It's like he's become impatient or something. There are no moments of acting a little grumpy or hungry or tired, he goes from fine to enraged in nanoseconds. Why is this happening? What can I do to help him calm down a little?? It's sooo frustrating to be screamed at all the time. I am not the most patient person in the world myself and it takes all I have to remain calm and level-headed while he's hollering at me. He's so young that I really don't think there are any acceptable disciplinary actions to take, but there has to be something I can do before I lose my mind!!

I would suggest listening closely to see if he's in pain. If he's normally well behaved, and now he's screaming at the top of his lungs like that, pain is the first thing that comes to mind. Is he teething, constipated or does he have gas? If you can't find any of these to make sense of it, maybe you should call your pediatrician. This is just my suggestion from the info you gave. I hope it gets better soon. I know how frustrating it can be.

hehehe... it's called conditioning. Your little one has learned that the louder he screams, the faster you move Don't really have advice except to break the habit of jumping to please him the second he screams. Take LONGER the louder he carries on. Give him the opposite of what he wants, and he will stop. He is not doing this on purpose, per se, but only because this is what he has learned, and so he does it. You can try this too.. I did it with my son. He was also very quiet (so quiet my parents took him to church every sunday for the first year and he NEVER cried once!) but when he was hungry or tired, he would SCREAM. I would prep his bottle, then bring it to him, and put my hand over his mouth, which would make him quiet. When he quieted, he got the bottle. If he wouldn't, he didn't get it. He learned quick, he would cry to let me know he was hungry, but stop once I started making his bottle, because he knew the food was on its way, and he knew he had to be quiet to get it. Hope this helps.

Teething is normal at 8 months. See if tylenol helps (and check the gums)

I actually do think that he is teething. However, I also think that he might be getting just a little bit bossy and spoiled. It's so funny to describe an eight-month old as bossy, but thats what it feels like when I'm flying around the kitchen trying to save him from the brink of starvation. The funny thing is...when it is just me and him at home on a day-to-day basis, he's pretty much perfect. I can lay him down for a nap wide awake and he will go to sleep on his own and I can talk him through his little fits. Right now, though, we're staying with family...is it possible that he's trying to cash in on the extra people to give him attention?? I never thought babies could be so cunning, but I get the distinct impression that he's giving us the run-around.

Seraphin, what a great idea. I can see that working very well.

I do know that babies understand much more than we give them credit for. Just like us they are creatures of habit. He cries, you jump, he knows how to get you. If you give him a little tylenol like school mommy said or motrin you will know it is not pain and go from there. You need to check with your doctor for dosage amounts.
Good luck

I always used motrin. It seemed to work better for us. It's also OK to use both tylenol and motrin at the same time. They are different drugs, and do different things in the body.

My daughter is quite the same. They are frustrated that they don't know how to communicate what they want. If he screams when he's hungry, then when you feed him, repeat to it what it is he wants (ex. bottle, food, hungry)