My 3 and a half yr old hurting herself

[Rachy]

When ever my dd gets angry or upset she will either bite or slap herself pretty hard. She's not broken the skin when biting yet but she leaves a fairly clear impression. I feel like I've tried every tactic; ignoring her, restraining her, cuddling her (I may get bitten if I'm close enough). It happened in Tesco's the other day and I got some very strange looks as my dd began to hit herself round the head!
When it's all over she'll sometimes say, "I really hurt myself but I didn't mean to". Help!

[threeangels]

My neice did somewhat the same thing. When she was mad and upset she would bang her head against the wall many times. The only thing that worked for my sister inlaw was to ignore her. She would do it for a little while but it would eventually taper off. That was her way of having a temper tantrum I guess. Have you talked to the doctor to see what you should do. My personal opinion is that I would not want to restrain her because to me it may make the situation worse. I do realize you have tried this already. I would just ignore it no matter how long it lasts. How old is your dd? Dont worry about what the other people think. Im sure they had a problem or two with their own kids when they were young. Or even if they are still young. I think some children build up a large amount of frustration and sometimes react this way to let it out. I would talk to her doctor especially if she is hurting herself. Good luck

[PamT]

Rachy, what about giving her a soft toy or doll to take her aggression out on, at least she wouldn't hurt herself as much then. Is she old enough to have one of those stress toys that you can squeeze and manipulate? If you can see that something is about to blow you could also try distraction tactics. I had a friend who's DD used to headbang and her health visitor also advised ignoring it, even though it must be so hard to do. Have you spoken to your HV?