DD1 compulsive pinching

[Lfinger]

My 1 year old falls asleep no bother most nights but if/when she wakes in the night, she pinches and pinches me or dh and she gets really annoyed if we push her hand off. Its like she's half asleep half awake and its constant pinching. It actually hurts and its impossible to get back to sleep (we bring her into bed with us) while she's doing it. Has anyone dealt with this before? Any tips on how stop it? I guess the obvious one is to stop bringing her in to our bed when she wakes up but any ideas about the actual pinching?

We sleep trained! DS would pinch me to get to sleep, I moved my arm in front of the bathroom mirror one day and realised I was covered in bruises so that was it for me. Hasn't pinched me since.

My DS is 13 months and does exactly the same thing. I think they want to touch you for comfort and pinching is just something they know how to do (my DS never strokes me for example!).

If he pinches me during the day I do an exaggerated “Ow! That hurts mama!” and sad face. At night I just try and hold his hands/arms still, which usually helps him fall into a deeper sleep.

Treat it like biting when breastfeeding. Just a calm 'oh, it looks like you don't want any more cuddles'. Roll over, face away from baby. Roll back again after a few seconds/minutes and try to get back to sleep again. They pick up pretty quickly.