Hitting self

queenofkings76

If my two year old hurts someone and they say ouch, he hits himself in the face/head. If you tell him no he hits himself in the face/head.  This is so disturbing. When do they outgrow or how can we stop this?

Halen0804

I believe when children/ toddlers hit themselves/ bang their heads it's a self-limiting behavior (meaning that they won't do it beyond the point it actually hurts him/ herself).  Do you react strongly when your LO hits himself?  DD was pulling her hair when she got mad or we would tell her no about something.  We were reacting by telling her not to pull her hair, which made her do it more.  Once we started ignoring the behavior she stopped.  It only took about a week.  I would suggest that if you LO continues the behavior after trying the ignoring for a week or two, check with your pedi.  

belladonna11307

We have a similar situation.  When someone gets hit at daycare, they say "Ow - hitting hurts", so DD has taken to hitting herself and saying "Ow".  She never hits hard, but I've found it really odd that she's hitting herself.  At first I tried telling her not to hit herself, now I just let it go until she stops.  We have her 18 month appointment soon, so I was going to ask the pedi about it, but if others are doing it, maybe it's just another one of those odd phases...