How do I stop my toddler from pinching and biting me?

[Sansarya]

DS is 17 months but for the past few months constantly wants to pinch or bite me. I know he does it out of affection as he doesn’t try it with anyone except me and DP, but it’s getting unbelievably frustrating and it bloody hurts too! I say no in a firm voice and remove his hand (which he thinks is hilarious), or put him in his cot for a few minutes (where he usually screams) but neither approach is helping and I’m reaching my wits end :( Any ideas how I can get him to stop?

Keep going. Never let up with removing him from the situation etc - he'll get it eventually. My DS was the same about that age and we were REALLY strict with him - every time he tried, we would tell him it was not nice, turn him away from us and move to a different part of the room. He got it eventually. It'll take time, but don't give up x

A good, sharp "NO!!" and being unceremoniously dumped in the cot worked for my three.

I also ignored any screaming once I had done that. They knew it would be the consequence. I would leave them for a good 10 minutes even if they were bellowing. When I went back in I would ask if they were now ready to behave nicely again now. I usually got a sobbing, grovelling yes, but on the odd occasion one of them tried to be defiant and say no, I just left them again and repeated the routine later, again and again until they said yes.