Frequently, as you have discovered, one year olds can display behaviours such as slapping, hitting and even biting and these are perfectly normal at this age. While these can sometimes be due to frustration, often they are driven by sensory exploration.
The thing to do is to gently, calmly move their arm away from the person they are hitting, so they can't hit again. You can let them try. Just keep their arm from landing on you or anyone else. Mild words like, “No, that doesn't feel good,” or, “I can't let you do that,” might be helpful.
Research shows that even infants are affected by and can remember events that threaten their sense of safety. A response such as PTSD following a traumatic event is not about the event itself, it is a result of the perception of powerlessness that was sensed by the infant.
Most likely your child simply doesn't have the words or skills to get her needs met and lashes out (hits) because she doesn't know what else to do. Toddlers are short on both language and social skills, and when they play together they can easily become frustrated.
They're having a bad day. When your toddler has an off day, they may simply lash out because they're cranky and don't have many coping skills. "Even kids who don't hit or bite often can lose control when they're stressed, or at the end of a long day," says Dr. Schechter.
What worked for us eventually was to simultaneously say calmly but firmly, "No hitting," quickly take hold of the offending hands/wrists, and redirect/distract by either clapping (and thereby getting her to clap) or placing something handy in her hands. It seemed to stop the problem almost immediately.
“For instance, a baby may not remember explicitly the time they were yelled at in the kitchen booster seat when they were 6 months old, but their body remembers the way it recoiled, the way it pumped blood to increase oxygen to the muscles in response to feeling unsafe,” Keith explains.
Trauma can have a serious effect on babies and toddlers. Many people wrongly believe that babies do not notice or remember traumatic events. In fact, anything that affects older children and adults in a family can also affect a baby, but they may not be able to show their reactions directly, as older children can.
Many forms of fidgeting, wiggling, pinching, and hitting are actually common behaviors infants engage in during nursing sessions.
Babies under one explore with their hands and mouth and hit as a way of exploring their world. They enjoy seeing what happens when they hit things and people; cause and effect is fascinating to babies!
When infants display anger and aggression, it is often due to discomfort, pain or frustration. Older babies will use aggression to protect themselves, to express anger or to get what they want. When your baby is aggressive, it is because he has not learned a better way of behaving.
It's actually not uncommon for babies to poke, pinch, or bite the adults they love, says Tiffany Field, Ph. D., a psychologist, and director of the Touch Research Institute at Nova Southeastern University, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (Perhaps it might be helpful to think of babies like puppies?)
Gentleness is a learned behavior. You can help teach your child to be gentle by modeling the behavior yourself, by having your child role play with a doll or stuffed animal, and by helping your child to be aware that her movements and tone of voice are just as important as gentle touch.
Yes, it's perfectly normal for your baby to appear angry sometimes. It can be very upsetting to see your baby distressed, but this is something most babies go through from time to time. Your baby probably isn't feeling anger in the way adults do.
It can make them behave badly or get physically sick. Children react to angry, stressed parents by not being able to concentrate, finding it hard to play with other children, becoming quiet and fearful or rude and aggressive, or developing sleeping problems.
Discipline in its simplest forms can start as soon as your baby is 8 months old. You'll know it's time to start your discipline journey when your sweet bundle starts doing things like biting your arm or pulling off your glasses even after you say “no”…and then laughs and laughs.
So whether the stressor is the sound of gunfire or a baby wailing for hours on end for months, the internal stress reaction is the same. The bottom line is that any traumatic or extraordinarily stressful situation can indeed cause PTSD. Postpartum mothers without a strong support network are certainly at risk.
Leaving your baby to 'cry it out' has no adverse effects on child development, study suggests. Summary: Leaving an infant to 'cry it out' from birth up to 18 months does not appear to adversely affect their behavior development or attachment.
When your baby's only a few weeks old, his memories usually last for up to two days. A research investigation confirmed that by the time he reaches 5 months, he can remember photos of faces for as long as 14 days.
When they feel pain, hurt, or fear, babies get angry, just like the rest of us. At 14 months, your baby responds to these angry feelings (and the underlying disappointment or pain) by hitting you. When you use “gentle guidance” to say that we don't hit, and her face crumples, that's a great sign.
Toddlers, especially those under 2, are often too young to understand why they're being disciplined. Rather than a time-out, a better strategy is to distract and redirect them. This works well when toddlers are trying to get into something they shouldn't.
Emphasize (briefly!) that it's natural to have angry feelings but it's not okay to show them by hitting, kicking, or biting. Encourage them to find a more effective way of responding, like using words to express themself or asking for help from an adult. Encourage them to apologize after they lash out at someone.