Hair pulling... Ouch!

[snuggly]

So, I love wearing my 1 year old dd... It feels best to my body to wear her on my back in our Ergo now that she is nearing toddler-size. Lately she had started grabbing and pulling my hair. I think that she likes the reaction!

I have tried gently taking my hair from her each time she does it, tying some tassles and fun stuff on our ergo and telling her "you can pull these" when she starts pulling, and wearing my hair as high as possible (but she still goes for those little sensitive ones at the base of my neck) Any other solutions to try out there?

TIA!

[desertgirl01]

Ouchie, yes, my baby does the same thing on my back (and in bed, and anytime she sees a fly-a-way strand). At 6 months old, she doesn't quite understand hair is NOT for pulling! I think tying the tassles is a great idea...I did notice the p-dog was distracted from my hair when she was chewing on the pack straps and the loop for the hood.

I'll be watching for other suggestions!

[Carhootel]

I don't have any real good advice since I imagine it's just a normal phase (and my 9 month does it too!), but I wanted to say that I have seen people with nursing necklaces turn them around so the pendant is hanging to the back so their lo can play with it. Might be worth a try...

[quantumleap]

Ugh. We have this problem too. DD also likes to slap me on the shoulders/back of the neck. Hard. Repeatedly. The hair pulling has been controlled over here by me tying my hair up and then tying a scarf on. When we're home alone and I don't care that I look like a ridiculous carricature of those old "Aunt Jemima" illustrations, I tie it with the knot on top of my head. Tied like that, it leaves only smooth fabric across the baby accessible part. Not nearly as exciting to yank on as other things, like your tassles. I do also tie it with the knot in the back. Doing it this way also works, because then pulling on the scarf ends is the fun thing to do. I don't mind this nearly as much as the hair pulling, although it can still get a bit irritating.
They'll grow out of it eventually. I think.