Stopping a 17 month old from hitting

[Paulacarl]

Hi,

Our 17 month old little boy has developed a bit of a hitting and shoving habit in the last few weeks. Bad enough at home with my husband and I, but worse at Playgroups etc. I'm feeling like I have to follow him round pretty closely so I can intervene.

Its not really aggressive hitting and shoving - more experimental I think. We really want to nip it in the bud though. We've been getting down to his level and saying "no hitting" very firmly. I don't feel like that's having much effect, so we've started removing him from the situation for a short time. I'm just wondering whether anyone has any strategies that have worked for them (or any reassurance that this is a phase and he will stop it eventually!)

Thanks

Definitely a phase that he will stop eventually.:) Sounds like you are doing the right thing by supervising closely and teaching him that it is not allowed. If you carry on being consistent and firm he'll learn eventually. I personally think formal time out is a bit wasted on babies this age (they often don't really understand) but taking him away from the scene if necessary is a good idea.

i find that telling ds to 'go away' when he hits me (as it is usually aimed at me) and making him move to beyond arms length gets the message across quite quickly.