What to do when dc hits?

[mother nurture]

My 13 month old dd hits me and laughs. She thinks it is funny. I don't know what to do. She use to do this around 9 months, but then grew out of it. I tell her "let's be gently". "Mama is so happy when we are gentle to eachother." I don't know what else to do. She does it in the sling too, so it's hard to remove myself from the situation. I try giving her something to occupy her hands, but she ends up hitting me with that, which is even funnier to her! :LOL So...any advice. I don't really want to say no, but I don't know what else to do.

[MamaE]

I think you're doing great - exactly what we did. She will stop, eventually. I know with my DD, she was looking for a reaction more than anything. We tried to keep it as low key as possible, never giving her much of a reaction - just saying "gentle touches" and taking her hand and demonstrating that. You could also try "hey, give mama high 5" whenever she hits. That way, you're modeling an OK way to hit, sort of... When she's not in the sling, how about offering a drum or a ball to hit.

I know others will have better advice, but don't worry, she won't be in this stage for long. Hang in there!

[Mommiska]

Hi there - sounds like you are doing just fine!

I've had one dd who was a hitter, and she hit for a long time (probably from around 18 months to just after she turned 3). She's 4 now, and almost never hits, so they do grow out of it (although at times it can seem like they won't).

'Gentle touches' type comments are good, especially since it sounds like your dd is just experimenting/looking for a reaction. When my dd was a bit older and hitting out of frustration/anger, we told her, 'We don't hit' and either moved out of the way or grabbed hands to stop the hitting (but then let go).

It doesn't sound like this is an issue for your dd, but when our dd hit in anger, AFTER she was calm, we'd give her the words to tell us that she was upset, instead of hitting.

But at your dd's age - telling her 'gentle touches' and then re-directing are definitely the way to go, I think.