WIC Infant Discipline Pamphlet

[ckmannel]

OK, so I was at WIC clinic with my DS and the family advocate someone or other came in and tried to give me a pamphlet about disciplining a 6-12 mo. old baby. I declined the pamphlet at the time(figured it's probably not our parenting style) but now I regret it. I kinda want to know how they suggest disciplining a child that young. Has anyone seen this? Does anyone successfully discipline a baby <1 yr old? Maybe I'm being too lenient, but I just think 10 mo. old DS is too young for much discipline.

[chipper26]

It depends on what the definition of discipline is. If the definition is guidance, the it's not too young to set the stage, But at that age, the main form of guidance is redirection IMO.

[holothuroidea]

I agree that it depends on how you use the word "discipline."

As far as modifying the behavior of a 10 month old, I wouldn't recommend trying!!

[ssh]

Redirection is discipline, so is saying "be gentle" and softly stroking your DC when they hit you. Hopefully the pamphlet had info like that in it and maybe some developmental things that are commonly viewed as misbehavior. I couldn't find anything on their site about a discipline pamphlet.

[Lil'Momma]

We went to a clinic about disciplining your older infant and it was mostly about guidance than anything. They talked about how to teach your bf baby not to bite you, how to deal with a crawling LO getting in to things they shouldn't. Stuff like that. Mostly they recommended picking them up and moving them away from whatever they were getting into, gently but firmly telling "no" or "we don't play with that" and offering them a toy they are allowed to play with. Then some kind of positive reinforcement. The one we went to wasn't telling you to spank your barely crawling LO, don't worry!

[JMJ]

I think a lot of the GD ideas work for infants. Mostly, you have to work with your baby to create situations that allow her to thrive while allowing you to keep your sanity. My 3 month old baby is much more cheerful when she is well fed, has a clean diaper, and has had enough sleep. We've had to work on how to create a situation that allows her to fall asleep peacefully at night and ride in the car seat without screaming. When she wakes up at night, we meet her needs as quickly as possible and all get back to bed. The middle of the night is not playtime. When she bites, we have to take a break from nursing. I want my nipples to feel good enough to nurse her later.

I don't say this to mean that she makes "bad" decisions that I need to punish. Certainly a child this age would not be able to understand punishment, but part of what I like about GD is that it is so consistent all the way through all the ages. I don't see what I'm doing now as that much different than establishing a bedtime routine with a preschooler to ease the transition, making sure a school-ager has enough bathroom breaks on a road trip to make the car ride more pleasant for everybody or making sure a high schooler has adequate snacks throughout the day so that she can pay attention in class.