I hadn't really thought of it as "let's induce trauma so we have an in later" though that certainly fits too.

The thing I was wondering about was if any of the family was supposed to survive beyond the kid (and if the kid is also stolen/presumed dead as well). When John's talking about tracking it and it going after families and burning the houses to the ground, he doesn't actually mention if there's any survivors of those incidents. Which, it may just be assumed that the who dies and who doesn't is the same as in the Winchester and Miller families' cases, but what if it's not? What if the mother coming in and then ended up on the ceiling isn't the norm but just what happens when the demon is discovered? And the father coming in and discovering that (which both John and Jim Miller did) and getting out with the baby is an even bigger aberration? What if the usual modus is burn house to the ground, with everyone still inside except the baby?

I don't know, just one theory I've been thinking on.

And yeah, I deinitely thought the crib bursting into flames was the demon saying, "If I can't have her, no one can."

It's definitely interesting to think about. Though I am happy they showed us how the women get up on the ceiling at least. :)