Aggressive 19 month old

[bellerous]

I don't know if this is normal or not but I'd really like some help/advice on what to do.

My son is 19 months old and has started biting when he's frustrated. He's also kicking and hitting a lot and I don't know what to do about it. He laughs when I tell him off I try explaining that he's hurt mummy or he's made mummy sad but he just seems to find this funny and carries on hitting or kicking.

I've started losing my temper a bit now and I've shout at him a couple of times which I really don't want to do because he's started copying that now and randomly shouts stop and no at me.

He also kicks and punches the dog and I'm worried the dog will get fed up with this at some point and go for him.

I feel really stressed at the moment and I'm not coping very well. Any tips/advice would really be appreciated. Thanks x

Firstly I am no expert but don't want your post to go unanswered. My DD went through a hitting phase, it was more to do with communication. She was a good talker and a rule follower and couldn't understand children get who couldn't talk back when they queue jumped etc and she'd go mental. We dealt with this by talking and explaining to her, it is amazing how much they understand. We also encouraged her to let us know about a frustration first rather than hit out. We also found another cause was diet. If she had black current fruit shoots she was fine, but the orange or red ones turned her into a devil child. there were other triggers too. Try and identify the triggers and see if there are common causes. As I said no expert so this is just a suggestion. Pushing the boundaries is a normal part of development - not that it makes things easy for parents!

I haven't really got any advice, but wanted you to know you aren't alone. My ds is 21 months and has started to behave in the same way. Think it is mostly related to frustration when I either don't understand what he is saying or he doesn't want to do what I am asking. I find he is worse when he is tired. The only thing I have tried is to take him away from the situation and let him calm down. We have a stair gate across his bedroom door (we took sides off cot recently) so I put him in his bedroom and explain to him he is going to stay there for a few minutes to calm down. I potter around for a few mins and then go back to him tell him he mustn't hit and then get him to say sorry and give me a hug very super nanny style. It's probably not for everyone, but seems to be working well for us.hope it gets better soon.