Does anyone else's LO exhibit this behavior and what to do?

[foodymama]

My DD is 22 mo. and she has recently started putting her hands over her face in an embarrassed sort of way. She does it if DH or I don't understand what she is saying, she does it sometimes when we just ask her any sort of question or give her a choice about things and she does it if she is doing something not allowed and we say say no. She just doesn't do this with DH and I either, she does it with other friends and family members as well.

I feel bad that it seems she feels so embarrassed and self-conscience. When she does do this I get down on her level and tell her everything is okay and that no one is upset with her and that we love her but it doesn't seem to be slowing down the frequency of this happening or even make her feel better at that moment. We don't use any form of discipline, we try really hard to limit "no" to severe things such as hitting, anything dangerous, etc... I am a SAHM so she isn't with anyone else that would be making her feel this way and there have been no monumental things going on in our lives.

Please tell me if we can be doing something differently to help her or if I am missing something entirely and there is a more concerning underlying issue. Or am I a worry-wart Mama and this is completely normal behavior?

[ainh]

I suggest just ignoring it a for about two weeks. It might be a habit that is getting more and more ingrained (kids keep doing things when it gets attention and I'm sure that she's noticed she gets a lot of 1-1 attention from you when you see her do it). My guy shrugs his shoulders and puts his hands up in "I don't know" formation at the same kinds of times and we all chuckled and he keeps doing it -- same idea. Maybe you could even teach her that movement instead. Covering her face doesn't necessarilky mean embarassed to her...just to you that has more context for that imagery.

[sapphire_chan]

*covers nose* Um... if my dd starts that, I'll know exactly where it comes from.

Maybe turn it into a game of peekaboo? "oh, dd's gone! where's dd?"

Okay, no, joking aside, my call on what's going on is that she's feeling frustrated and a bit overwhelmed by emotion and is hiding her face as part of processing her feelings. So what I'd do is just hold her and talk through the frustrations like you would with a tantrum.

[LadyCatherine185]

My DS does this as sort of a joke, and says "shy".. it is usually when we ask him to do something (like "Liam, do your funny smile") and he doesn't want to he puts his hands over his face and says "shyyy." I would maybe turn it into a game "DD are you being shyyyy?" in a playful tone of voice. Works for us, as DS starts laughing when we play along.

[foodymama]

Thank you! I think I will try to be playful about this and see what happens. I was taking it very seriously and I think it's better if I lighten up so I don't add any pressure. You mamas are always so enlightening!