20 Month Old Hits Herself

It is normal for a toddler to hit themselves, others, throw fits, etc. She is doing this because she is frusterated and is not yet able to express herself verbally. My boys both did this we tried getting our oldest to scream into or hit a pillow. We even got him one of those toys where they hammer plastic pegs. Sometimes he would use one of those things and other times he would just behave like the toddler he was. We had the most success with keeping a close eye on him and when we saw he was getting frusterated one of us would get down on the floor with him, calmly get his attention by letting him know we wanted to help solve his problem and then walk him through it. Sometimes it worked and many times it didn't. Our second child seemed more observant and aware of his surroundings than our oldest was at this age. We learned early he was going to handle frusteration exactly how he saw us handle it. I wonder if our oldest watched us just as close and we just didn't realize it until the second time around. My best advice would be that your example will always be her most influencial teacher and I wouldn't stress over this stage too much it passes and none of you will be scarred for life over it. Good Luck

My oldest would do this around that age, or he'd bite himself. He would do this when he did not get his way etc.. so unless he was hurting himself (which of course he'd stop before he did) I was told by my Mother, Grandmother and so on, to just ignore it, yet keep a close eye on him. When he quit getting attention for it, he finally stopped. Good Luck

My daughter does this too, except she bangs her head on the floor or table when she gets mad. I know that babies this age have a limited vocabulary and it can be VERY FRUSTRATING for them to not be able to communicate what they are thinking or feeling. And different babies have different ways of venting that frustration--some bite, some hit, some scream, etc... I wouldn't worry too much about it though. With my daughter I just make sure to scoot her to the carpet or away from hard furniture if I know she's about to lose it and start head-banging so she doesn't seriously hurt herself. But she's learning quickly that it's not the best solution! ;) I bet our girls will outgrow this phase pretty quickly once they start talking more and their vocabulary develops.

well.. my 13 month old daughter just started to do that too.. when she gets in trouble I swat her hand.. she first began to hit me then she FINALLY learned not to.. so when I do swat her hand or tell her no she hits herself.. I think it's normal. But I really don't know. If you find out otherwise, let me know!

Mine's done that sort of thing too. He's 22 months now and every once in a while he gets in that mood and does it. I figure that he'll eventually grow out of it! He hasn't hurt himself by doing it and don't think he will.

My oldest son, now 5 yrs old, would bang his head on everything at about your daugther's age. The pediatrician said not to worry that he would grow out of it and by about 2 1/2 he had. Try not to react and remain calm. I bet once she quits drawing a reaction the behavior will no longer be fun.