Bitey, slappy but otherwise actually lovely toddler!

[TheLegendOfBeans]

My 16mo DD is a really lovely girl; she's very chatty, mostly happy and enjoys lots of company and cuddling.

However, she's developed two rather annoying and painful habits: slapping and biting.

These are usually when she's tired but no always. The biting/nipping is so painful, usually on the upper arm or boob and always when we are having cuddles.

Ditto the slapping; it's when we're cuddling and she looks deep into our eyes and....WHACK. Her DF wears glasses and they've been knocked into his face on several occasions.

When she does this we usually say "NO" and put her down immediately. But often it's when she's in her grobag last thing and we don't want to start her associating being put down to bed with punishment.

For the record, she's never been done for biting or slapping other kids at nursery. She's really well behaved there - as are all the kids basically.

Basically:
A) did your otherwise lovely toddler do this and how did you "manage" it?
B) did your bitey/slappy toddler basically grow out of it?

Help! I'm totally fed up of getting bitten and slapped.

Bumping for the lunchtime crew x

Do you cuddle to sleep? Try having cuddles earlier in the routine and after gro bag is on put straight down.

What happens is:

5:30 tea
6:00 runaround
6:20 up to our bedroom for PJs, grobag and bottle
6:40 up to her cot for bed

It's in the 5 mins between the finishing bottle and beddybyes is usually "peak slap".

My DD is the same. I think it's probably her way of telling us she's tired and wants to be put down to sleep, so putting her down may be reinforcing the behaviour.

I try to put her to bed before she gets really tired, but that's not always possible and she won't go to sleep if we get it wrong and put her to bed too early.

I have two older DCs and they never bit or slapped, so this is new for me, but I assume she'll grow out of it, once she's old enough for us to understand each other.

In summary, I have no more idea than you do!

I saw your title and thought 'ah ha! The answer!!'

So disappointed. dabs at war wounds from biting toddler

DD also has a tendency to slap at bedtime. As PPs say, I think she's communicating her tiredness/frustration. DD certainly slaps less nowadays as we're a bit more clued on to her methods of communication.