DS is 6.5 months old and he is SO ROUGH with me. I feel so silly even making this post! He is always hitting me in the face, pulling my hair, scratching my face, poking me in the eyes, grabbing my lips and other general roughness. When he does this I tell him "OUCH. Tanner, no." Or "Tanner, be gentle." and I put his hand down from my face. Would you believe that this little bugger smiles and laughes when I do that! Should I be concerned about this? Is this a bad sign???

you're doing the right things with him.... it will just take a lot of time, and a lot of repeating yourself! if you keep telling him NO HIT and then tell him BE GENTLE, try showing him "gentle" by rubbing your hand on his face gently, and then rubbing his hand on your face and keep telling him "gentle!" he'll catch on.... and praise him and smile huge when he does it right.

oh, and watch your facial expressions and how you react to his hitting and roughness. i mean, i've seen some parents reactions to their babies hitting them and it can be pretty entertaining to watch.... can't really blame the baby for repeating the behavior to watch mommy's funny reaction! :)

yeah, I've had big scratches on my face and lost lots of pieces of hair from my little one being a bit rough and I did the same thing you do - would take her hand and say "no no". I think it's a thing at that age because she doesn't do it anymore thankfully! I'm wondering if it's because they suddenly have the hand motion and find your face a playground. When I would tell my little one "no no" she would laugh and do it again. Take a breath, maybe wear a face mask for a while :) and hang in there - I think you're doing everything you can.

My little guy does the same thing! He's been doing it for a few months now (he's 8.5 mo), and I don't know how to stop it either! My ds is just really rough in general... If the cat comes by, he will most likely grab a handful of his fur, if his cousin is over (his cousin is 2 months younger, but slightly bigger in size), he tries to pull his hair and his ears, etc.. I'm at a loss for what to do as well! But like you said, I think all you can really do at this point is say that it is hurting you, or not to do it... I am trying to establish what "NO" means. He normally doesn't respond though..... Anyways, I think you should just keep doing what you're doing, and he'll learn to understand!

Whiskers :)

I never had the hitting, but I have a girl. I have to say from watching kids in the nursery boys are just in general more inately "rough" if you will. They hit things (not just people) just to see what happens as a way of exploring. No different than babies sticking everything into their mouths. I wouldn't worry about it. My girl was a hairpuller though. I found that grabbing her fist and not letting her move until she let go was the best way to deal with it. Being restrained was the worst result for her so she stopped.

It is funny that you should post this. My DS is 5 months old and it SO ROUGH. He also thinks that it is really funny to hit people in the face. Sometimes, it even seems as if he tries to lure us in by acting very sweet and then, bam, he cracks us in the face. I keep telling DH that I miss when he was smaller and cuddly. I haven't been correcting him because I feel that he might not understand but I may try that.

I feel like he plays me too. The other day he was all naked before his bath (his favorite time!) and my DH leaned him towards me so he could give me a kiss. Well he stroked my face a couple of times so sweetly then in the blink of an eye he grabbed a fist full of my hair and pulled so hard my head snapped back. I let out a loud yelp and I think he was startled but since DH laughed Tanner started to laugh too. I tried to dicipline him but as soon as I left the bathroom I have to admit I laughed a little too!

This is a hard age to discipline because up until now everything you do has been to make them smile or laugh. It's a huge change for them when they get the "no" reaction. They laugh because they think you are trying to make them laugh, imagine what you must look like when they startle you and you get a stern look on your face. It must be pretty humorous to them. They don't quite grasp what "no" means but that it no reason to stop saying it. They will quickly learn that it is not acceptable and it hurts mommy when you hit or pull hair. When he hits or pulls your hair, you might try saying "No, that hurts Mommy." then put him down and leaving the room or just put him down and don't make eye contact. He'll learn very quickly that when he hits you that he doesn't get your attention. This is something that a lot of parents have problems with around 6 months. They are learning new things and try different things and need to learn what is and is not acceptable. We went through the same thing with my son, who is now 12 months, and he did learn fairly quickly that he couldn't pull Mommy's or Gabriel's (our sheltie) hair. We were consistent with teaching him what was gentle and now it's so nice because he just walks up to our dog and gentle pets him or "rams" into him to get him to play. :) There are a few months where your son will actually listen to you when you tell him "no" and then he'll learn that he doesn't actually HAVE to listen. Then it gets really interesting!!

My 17 month grandson has just started to pull hair.He has always loved to touch it but never pulled.I have said ouch that hurts don't pull touch nice.He laughs,I have said no pull Aiden's hair he does.He also hits when he don't get his way or wants something but I can't understand what he is saying.He has learned that it hurts to do that sort of stuff but he still does it.I had all girls so a Boy is a new experance for me.Boys are rougher and way different.