Am 8 months pregnant and my 3 year old has started hitting me

[ScoutFinch]

He particularly tries to punch me in the belly and chest.

My dh and I have do not hit our children as punishment so I have been dealing with it on a zero tolerance time out in his room but tbh at a very heavy 8 months pregnant the last thing I need is to be trying to manhandle a 3 year old upstairs to his room.

Any suggestions?

Sorry- I have no experience of this yet, but just wanted to sympathise, and bump for someone more knowledgable.
Hope someone can help, you must be so fed up.

oh just bung him in the corner then... would he stay?

of course its a phase. When my dd2 was born dd1 aged 2 yrs 4 mths started using me as a climbing frame and pulling my hair, everytime I tried to feed. Of course its jealousy.

I'll be honest the tears have been very close today. Dh rang and asked how things were so I told him and then wished I hadn't I could hear in his voice that although he asked he didn't want to be told really. he works 12-15 hour days lately so hearing moaning from me is probably not the highlight of his day

Can you put him in a downstairs room - to save you having to go upstairs.

Nowhere really safe to put him downstairs, his room is good as there is very little for him to throw around when he is in thug mode.

Unfortunately won't stay put if I tried to put him in a corner and have a 2 yr old and 1 yr old boy too.

I have thought about taking the other 2 out the kitchen with me, given them a little treat and leaving him in the front room to calm down.

The others are fine but my 2 yr old said to me today, "Mummy when I get cross I'm going to hit you" so it's not gone unnoticed.

Oh Scout- this sounds really hard.
All I can suggest is to exaggeratedly praise the others' good behaviour, and ignore his bad behaviour.
Obviously keep out of his way when he's lashing out.

Have you tried posting on the owls board (larger families section) there must be someone who has small gaps like you, and could suggest coping strategies.
Some of them have got 7-9 dc so they will have seen it all before!

7-9!? Now I feel very humble indeed....

Thanks for the advice.

erm, no- 4 under 5 is very impressive!
I know adults who came from a family this close in age, and they are all really close now- very good friends, and their parents whilst they had it hard when they were teeny, did reap the rewards once they were teenagers, and got all the difficult bits over at once IYSWIM.

Oh, I remember it well. My dd was also 3 when ds was born and she was very aggressive. Fast forward 8 years and she has progressed to hitting little brother instead. Definite improvement IMO: he's young and fit and can take it!

No, seriously, her jealousy subsided after a few months and they have been great friends ever since. But it was very tiring at the time. And if you have two other little ones I'm not surprised you're knackered. Big hugs!