Is my 1 year olds behaviour normal?

[bellerous]

My little boy has just turned 1 and for a while now he's been pinching, scratching and pulling hair. I know most babies do these things occasionaly but I feel like maybe he does it too much and its starting to annoy people now and they don't want to sit with him because the come away with scratches all over their faces. He laughs when he does it and laughs even more when we tell him no. I guess I just want to know if this is normal? Is it a phase?

[crazykat]

It's a phase that most babies/toddlers go through along with biting and hitting. The best way I've found to stop it is to tell them "no, that's naughty" in a firm tone and put them down/move away. It usually caused my dcs to get a bit upset from being put down but it worked pretty quickly and didn't take long to stop them hitting/biting so often, there would still be the occasional occurrence when they were frustrated trying to make themselves understood.

Some people told me to simply say "no" and then ignore it but it never worked for my dcs, they'd just do it all the more to get my attention.

[MrsHathaway]

It's normal but your response isn't enough. He doesn't understand no, because he's too young.

Every time he scratches/pinches/bites, he goes down. "Ouch! We don't bite" "Ouch! We don't pinch" "Ouch! We don't scratch".

He will probably pout, shout or cry. Say again "We don't pinch", then you can pick him up again. If he does it again, put him down again immediately.

He will associate the pinching with being put down. You can reinforce by modelling "gentle" ad nauseam - "this is a lovely cuddle, isn't it? I love having gentle hugs with you", holding his hand to stroke your face instead of scratching, repeating "gentle hands, gentle hands".

It doesn't last very long but you have to work hard. Good luck.

[feekerry]

Ds is 11m and totally different to dd who is now 2.6yrs. It has totally taken me by surprise!! Ds is absolutely gorgeous but omg he has a right old temper on him. He will often scratch, slap, pull hair, poke and throw himself back and back arch etc. so what you are describing sounds normal to me!
Dd whilst sometimes over emotional and temper tantrum etc was nothing like ds is. He is soooo strong too!!

[Guin1]

I was lucky that DS was never a pincher, biter or scratcher. He did start pulling hair at about that age. We did lots of 'gentle hands' stroking hair - his and mine, at various random times, not just in response to pulling. So he learned to associate hair stroking with positive attention. Likewise, lots of 'gentle pats' rather than hitting. He is 2.5 yo now and still gives me gentle pats, which I tell him makes Mummy very happy.

Perhaps also keep his fingernails very short to limit the scratching injuries!