Screeching Help!!!

While I agree with the two other responses that your daughter DOES understand "no", I disagree with the methods of "discipline". I'm assuming that since your daughter isn't yet a year old, she's finding her voice. Im also going to assume that she's not talking yet, and all she's doing by screaming is she's found a way to communicate with mommy.

Give her a few days, try to figure out WHY she's screaming. (Food, diaper, attention,hurting, bored, tired, etc) I doubt she's screaming just for the fun of it, although it can become fun for her quickly, depending on your reaction. If you can figure out WHY she is screaming, it can go a long way to prevention. For instance, if she's doing it because she becomes bored with whatever activity shes doing, try to shorten the time she has with that activity and move her on to something else. If she's hungry, try to give her snacks a little closer together. Maybe she wants you to play with her.

I found with my son that when he would start screaming, it was usually because he was bored- and I had certain things I did with him that would allow him to use his energy to GIGGLE instead of scream. This little pig, Monkeys jumping on the bed, Im a little tea-pot, etc. Kids have a lot more energy than we do and they need just as many quiet activities as they do not-so-quiet activities.(I also found out that sometimes it's hard to distinguish between a laugh and a screech!)

Then again, maybe I'm wrong and your daughter might be needing discipline, although at under a year old I doubt it.

Please - she'll understand no as soon as you say "no" and refuse to coddle or be nice to her when she's screeching. Just make sure she's in a safe place and pick her up as soon as she stops and put her right back down when she starts it up again. Please do this for the rest of us whose ear drums come close to bursting when people take their screeching, screaming kids all over public places...

Believe it or not, she understands more than you think. A short, quick "no" can work wonders. Sometimes even a VERY short time-out can work. In my opinion, at this age all time-outs do is take her out of the situation. Then, after the tme-outs over, she gets the VERY short "we don't yell" speech and then some playtime. Also, that sometimes, simply ignoring it will work. If all she looking for is attention, she knows how to get it. Keep in mind that this route things will probably get worse before they get better. Until she realizes it doesn't work. I don't think that just distracting her is necessarily the best thing. It seems that all that does is tell her that if I screech, I can get someone to play with me. Which, by the way, she already knows. She knows that if she screeches, someone will come running & probably play or at the very least get her some attention. I certainly don't want to offend anyone, however, I think that some people don't seem to notice that kids understand ALOT more than they are given credit for.
Also, keep in mind that it is a phase & those seems to last forever. Then one day, you realize that she's not doing it anymore.

When my kids started screaming, I would put my hand over their mouth and say NO. Believe me, she IS old enough to understand. Once they knew that it was not allowed, I would pop them in the mouth, not in a hurtful way, just something to surprise them. I never had a screamer, and I can't STAND to be around kids who are! Get her to stop now before she becomes one of those! My sister let it go and said it was just a phase, and her son did it for months! I was so embarrassed when we'd go out in stores. I finally told her that if she didn't stop him, I would, and I jumped in. Come to find out, she was being inconsistent with him, and so he wasn't obeying her.

My dd did this when she was about your daughters age. She did understand no. We didn't use it very often though. I would just ask her to use her inside voice and I'd whisper to her. Eventually, she started whispering to copy me. It was pretty cute. There were times when we were in the store and she started screeching. I was so embarassed! She just did it cause she thougt it was fun to listen to her voice. She used to do it in the mall all time too. Be consistent with your correction. Once you find something that you are comfortable with (saying 'no', covering her mouth, shushing her, etc) use it ALL the time. Whenever she screeches, she gets the same reaction from you. The bigger reaction you give her, the more she will continue to do it. Most likely, she's found her voice and is experimenting different ways to use it.