11 month old hitting other children

[TheCrumpetQueen]

How can I curb this? I know he's not being malicious as he's still a baby, but he goes up to other babies and hits them on the head with objects or just slaps them. He usually looks at me while doing it, so I try not to react and distract. He does it to me and his dad in bed too. Any ideas would be useful

I think you do need to react....with a firm "No" and then remove the object he's hitting with and remove him from the area.

I did that for a while and he laughs or smiles and carries on until I move him away but always tries again. He liked the attention and reaponse from me

Well you need to move him away every time...he's only a baby still but he will understand eventually. If he laughs, ignore it....

You shouldn't be reacting to the behaviour if the behaviour is so predictable.

You should be hovering & preventing him hitting in the first place.

He has no understanding so best just prevent the hitting for now.

I'm hovering all the time and preventing, if he's ever near another baby he tries to hit them. My partner reacts way too much and I've told him its counterproductive

Just hover and prevent.

And don't worry about it too much.

He's a baby. He'll grow out of it.

My Dd went through this stage. We just had to hover and move her everytime it happened. We would also do a firm NO when moving her. It didn't take long for her to get the message, she soon stopped. D

Well just keep hovering then. He will grow out of it. Its just his way of communicating/playing for now.

When ds3 (14mths) tries to whack my face. I say 'gentle ds, like this' and then either stroke his face gently or take his hand & show him how to stroke gently.

It really is just distracting, removing from situations at this age. A firm 'no, we don't hit' is really just to get into the habit. They have no understanding & zero impulse control at 11mths.

How is your partner reacting exactly?

He needs to understand that at 11mths, your ds is just a baby & overreacting is going to cause ds to do it more just to see a repeat of the reaction.

It really is 2 or older before you can have any expectations in terms of behaviour & even then their impulse control is seriously limited.