Why is he hitting me?

[lizzlebizzle33]

Hi can anyone help me understand why my little boy (20 months) is hitting me when somebody is crying or sad on tv?
It's not even just real people, the baby bunny on bing just started crying and he came over screaming and whacked me.
We do have a new baby in the house which he is finding it difficult to deal with so some of his behaviour at the moment I can understand but I just don't get this ?

Sorry I can’t be of much help but I didn’t want you to go unanswered. Congratulations on your new LO and hopefully someone will be along soon with experience.

That's sweet thank you.x

Hi OP. My DS went through a hitting phase at this age - not hitting me, but hitting other kids. I couldn’t understand why he did it - it was often for no reason at all, not because the other kid had been mean to him. It was so stressful because a 20 month old is a bit too young for most discipline techniques (sticker chart etc was meaningless for him). I said NO firmly and made a fuss of the other child while ignoring him, as I guess he was doing it for attention.

The bad news - it went on for quite a few months. The good news - he’s now a lovely, gentle, well behaved 8yo. Hang in there OP.

It is a phase.

The connection might be between hitting and crying? I’d guess he’s just experimenting

Don’t worry. He loves you. He’s just working things out I think!