Hi, doctorbighands. My older son, when he was a baby, used to throw a wobbly every night at dinner time -- hunger, lack of Mom's attention, and tiredness set him off. We found that taking him outside, even for a few minutes, calmed him down so he could make it through the evening. I agree with Minnie -- outside time is good for the soul.
Also, distraction is a great technique for derailing tantrums at ANY age. You're not giving in to manipulation, you're helping her re-focus on something else, because she's too little to do it for herself. You're teaching her a good coping skill, and when she's older, she'll be able to go for a walk or go read a book or watch something funny on TV to get herself out of a funk.
We also had good results with signing. We started teaching both kids at about 9 months and they started signing back at about 10 months. So I would recommend you just persevere with that... you may find it'll start reducing the screaming pretty soon.
Good luck.
