To have smacked my child

Sounds very frustrating as you are trying the usual methods and they aren't working. It must be really hard to see your child hurt younger sibling. I can see why you snapped. It is not ideal, but you are not scum. You made a mistake.

Have you tried naughty step? 3 mins (as age 3, 4 mins age 4 etc) On naughty step no attention then apologise and move on when finished?

I wouldn't worry about nursery be will probably behave better there and if not they will have seen it before.

It happens a lot at nursery! One of mine (now just turned 4) got bitten about 4 months ago by a child that's mum works in the pre school.

One time along time ago now another child bit DTwin1 and DTwin2 went over and pushed the other child over and told him to leave his brother alone - nursery didn't know what to do with DTwin2 because whilst he shouldn't have pushed the other child, he was trying to protect his brother.

I can understand that having him bite a little baby must be very disturbing for you and that your instinct is to protect someone so physically fragile.

Anyone would worry and want it to stop. xxx

It was a 1 off dont beat yourself up about it.

There are many different ways to discipline a child, smacking isn't illegal.
Being a hypocrite is slightly annoying but it's your choice how you raise your child.

@Kasabian23

OP, I've been there too - very similar situation but with twins biting each other. You have very obviously and rightly realised for yourself your feelings on the matter and obviously care very deeply and are remorseful for what you did but you were protecting your child with what sounds like a very natural reflex.

The only disgusting person here is @Kasabian23
Kicking someone while they are down, being rude and borderline racist and being cheating scum.

OP, you made a mistake, should you have done it? No, but you know that. No parent is perfect and I am sure it is something you wont do again.
It was a reaction to your child biting a younger child. When he wakes up give him extra love etc

I think if one of my kids seriously hurt the other then I might smack them too. I never have but that is a scenario where I could see it happening.
You've given yourself a hard time, doesn't sound like you'll ever do it again.

Please don't beat yourself up about this , he won't remember.
I smacked my then 7 DS, and I mean I chased him round the house and hit him because he had done something as so spiteful and I was a lone parent and very very stressed. it has always played on my mind and I felt so awful for many years about it . A few years ago we were chatting and I brought it up, thinking he would remember and be really angry with me. Well he couldn't remember it at all, even when I went into detail about it. He was 25 when we had this chat and said he would probably off done the same, "as he was a little shit" ( his words not mine) . Please move on from this but don't do it again

Calm down. This was a one off. We all lose it sometimes. No smacking isn't ok. But watch any mother animal teaching her babies boundaries and you'll see she does what's necessary within reason.

No, smacking isn't acceptable. But you just totally lost your cool and reacted on instinct. So don't beat yourself up. Chalk it up to experience. Your child is fine. Just carry on, and work around things next time.

I think you should get past this guilt and put your focus back on the one-year-old with visible teeth marks OP. What are you going to do about this horrible violent biting habit? That has absolutely got to stop. Do you think the slap might have shocked him out of it?

Do you hit your husband "in the heat of the moment"?

Would you be ok with him hitting you "in the heat of the moment"?

Would you brush it off?

You manage not to "lose control" around people big enough to hit you back or call the police, so what enables you to control yourself in those situations?

Hitting a child to teach them not to physically hurt others? How does that work? "I'm allowed to hit you because I'm bigger and more powerful than you, but you mustn't hit or bite or hurt other people (not even if they're smaller than you)" .

You're making excuses. If you keep doing that it will happen again because you won't have changed anything.

Use your guilt to power change. How will you respond next time you notice you're losing control? How will you interrupt yourself and calm yourself down?

Throwing shades 🤣 are you 12. You stand need calling anyone disgusting love

You know what you did was wrong. You feel guilt which is actually a sign of a caring parent. If you felt no remorse and continued to hit your child then that is scum of the earth.

It can be hard to make a child see what they did was wrong, sometimes words don't cut it. But we as parents have to find the right words and punishment that works on their own child. We do really need to not go down the smacking road.

If you feel under pressure, immediately put your child in a safe space, leave the room and scream into a pillow or count up until you feel calm. If you feel you are going to smack, repeatedly pinch the back of your own hand until this feeling passes.

It's not nice to hit, you already know this and all it really teaches them is to hit when angry. You can and will find a way to cope with things your child does. Tomorrow explain to him that you were wrong to hit him, you are sorry and give him a kiss and a hug and maybe a small treat.

@EveryFlightBeginsWithAFall wow nosy much? Extra marital affairs are in no way the same as physically assaulting defenceless children. And even then I said in a reply later that it's no big deal if she learns from it so I don't know why you are throwing shade at me like that

I smacked my child once before. Not gonna like I feel guilty about it now and again but it stopped her doing something harmful for good. She was about 3 too. It was more of a tap on the arm and a one off and it worked. I understand why people are shocked and disgusted because had I dont it a second time or harder that would be abuse. Dont beat yourself up and dont do it again

I’ll put my hand up minipie!

Still feel guilty years later.. they’re teens now. I’ve relived it a hundred times, thinking how I should have behaved. But it’s done and they are great kids and we all make mistakes and my good parenting has waaaay outweighed my bad.

You’ll laugh about it one day (the biting, not your reaction). My son left a similar bite mark on his sister’s FACE.

You are not terrible, it happens occasionally. Learn from it and move on

Its okay - one off to protect a sibling

The fact you can identify what happened and where you went wrong proves your not a terrible person. Yes, your reaction in the situation wasn't ideal but it was a reaction to stop your younger child being hurt. You should have spoke to your child after all had calmed down and apologised for your actions and explained how you were feeling. Kids need to see us parents are only human, with feelings and can make mistakes.

You are human. You are not alone. You are not disgusting. We need space to admit our mistakes. If we were able to be open I believe it would be easier to avoid negative cycles of behaviour recurring.
I think you should move on. Continue being the great mum that you are. You know you made a mistake (we all do) but the guilt and shame you feel now can have a more negative impact on your relationship dynamic than just moving on. This was a one off for you and let’s keep it in perspective.
Real parents aren’t perfect and perfect parents aren’t real!
Good luck and be kind to yourself.