Why Does My One Year Old Keep Hitting Me? HELP!

[LilacMama]

I have a 14 m.o. DD who is very cute and sweet. She is a little on the clingy side. Lately, she's been smacking my face suddenly and with a little angry attitude. I've been pushing her hands back into her body and saying "NO" and setting her down on the ground. This makes her cry, but she has continued to repeat the behavior.

Lately, she's been giving sweet little kisses to people --her daddy, her aunt, her stuffed bunny. She knows now what a "Kiss" is. I have asked her for a kiss a few times and she has promptly responded by smacking with a little baby scowl.



I think we are close and attached. She does get mad at me when I won't breastfeed her sometimes (she wants to nurse constantly and I've been saying no sometimes lately and offering her food and water instead). She also gets mad when I won't pick her up right away (when I'm cooking) and she'll throw a fit about it while I cook. But otherwise, we are very loving and play together a lot and I nurse her all the time and hold her often. SO why is she HITTING me when I ask for a kiss? It's really hurting my feelings here.

[sgmom]

The easy answer would be that she's hitting because she's 14 months old and is unable to communicate (through words) her feelings. It's perfectly normal. Or she could just find it amusing.

Rather than setting her down have you tried blocking the hit by either deflecting or grabbing her hand, and not acting upset about it (no reaction)? Or you could try blocking the hit and taking her hand gently across your face to teach her "hitting hurts mommy... gentle touches feel nice".

It sounds like it might be an attention seeking behavior, based on what you described (in which case, setting her down, or denying her of attention, could make it worse or cause other problems). If this is the case, making a fun game out of it might help. I'm too tired to think of any off the top of my head, but there are some great suggestions on this forum!