Aggressive 18 month old

[jimjamjoo]

My 18mo DS is incredibly aggressive and it's really starting to concern me. He's been like it since he was about 9 months but recently it's got really bad. He hits, bites, scratches, head buts etc. When DH and I ( am everyone else!) tell him no and to play gently, he just laughs. I'm really concerned that there's something wrong with him. Even his childminder said she'd never seen anything like it. I guess I'm looking for similar stories, advice or ideas. Thanks so much

That does sound a bit extreme for 18 months. There is some advice here which you may find useful.

How's his speech too?

Oh i think it’s so normal for 18 months old. Literally all the 18 month olds i knew were little bruisers, they have no concept of other people having feelings so young so they are not trying to hurt. It’s just testing out action / reaction and repeating to test what actions get what reactions. The better the reaction the more fun it is!

Modelling behaviours like showing how to be gentle in response to rough behaviours etc can work quite well. But i am so sure he’ll grow out of it!