9 Month Old Behavior

It sounds like you have been giving him attention for the behavior, so he has learned that if he wants a response from you he should use his nails. I would attempt to distract rather than directly respond to the behavior like hold ands, count fingers, this litlle piggy?

I would keep saying no and I would cut his nails. I find a cuticle cutter works best. My girls never scratched anyone - I cut them once to twice a week. Good Luck

Hey S.,
I didnt nurse my son and he did the same thing when I would try to rock him to sleep. Usually when he was overtired and didnt want to go to sleep -just like all children - he may miss something! Mostly he thought it was a game but what I did was told him no, showed him he has to be gentle and told him it was time to go to sleep. I than held his hand and of course he tried to continue but kept telling him its time for sleepies (as we call it here). I had to do this a couple of times before he would stop and if he didnt stop - I put him in the crib to show him that I was not playing around. He didnt like that and I would let him cry a little than would take him out of the crib and rock him to sleep. Most of the time it worked and sometimes it didnt. Sometimes they just dont want to go to sleep and its difficult no matter what you do. Good Luck!

My 10 month old son does the same thing and I think you are right that it is usually when he is tired or overstimulated. I also tell him no very sternly and also show him how to touch "nice". I think its just one of those age things. I would keep telling him no and showing him nice. I think it is going to take sometime before they catch on though.

I think your son is exhibiting normal 9 mo old behavior and I don't think it has anything to do with weaning. My son went through the same thing with scratching and hair-pulling and even sometimes biting. Your son is too young to really understand "sternness" or anger in your voice and too young to be disciplined too harshly because he won't understand cause and effect just yet. Part of it is not knowing his own strength and he has no idea that he's hurting you or playing too rough. I'm sure he'll grow out of it. My son did. Your son probably won't be emotionally effected when you get upset with him until he's over 1 year old. My son didn't cry when I scolded him until he was about 13 months. (And even still about 50% of the time his reaction is more "who are you to tell me what to do?" than "I'm sorry mommy." Up until that point he didn't really think there was any difference between a smile and a scowl. Yelling is usually pointless! :-) Hang in there. Sometimes you just can't reason with them. It gets easier as they get older and they communicate more effectively.

Also, I started showing my son how to "do nice" after he started the whole scratching thing and it took him probably about 6 - 8 weeks for it to sink in. I think they don't have as much small motor function as we like to think they do. He might very well have thought he was "doing nice" but instead of scratching he changed over to more of an open handed slap before transitioning to caressing with his hands. Everything is a learning process at this age and sometimes it takes a little while. Your little one will get there soon enough.

Why don't you just clip his nails?

Do we have the same son??? :)

My son is 11 months old, but started the exact same behavior around 9 months. He digs at my eyes, nose, and mouth. He tries to remove a mole from my upper chest (using his nails!), and slaps my shoulders while giggling. And short nails or not, he's strong. Those fingers go deep!

It's very cute to onlookers, but hurts me! So I firmly, but gently, remove his hands from whatever they're grabbing and say "Ouch! That hurts!" When he does it again (which he always does), I put him down with a toy.

It's hard, because he loves to be held and sometimes really fusses. But it's just not ok for a baby to hurt you, you know? Often, I'll sit next to him and distract him with a book or another toy. If he crawls in my lap, I immediately hug and kiss him. But if he grabs again, I repeat the whole process.

He hasn't stopped completely, but he now understands that I don't like it. And he's pretty responsive to that. That may be the best we can expect for now!

Hi S..

My son is now almost 14 months and he started doing the same thing at around 8 or 9 months. Plus he used to bite me a lot when he was teething. Now he thinks that's how to kiss, unfortunately.

Keep doing what you've been doing. Keep the baby's nails short. Since they are really too little to understand that they are hurting you, punishing is out of the question. Also, what helps is not responding to the action at all. If he gets a kick out of hearing you say ouch or look surprised he will continue the behavior.

It gets better.

Good luck,
R.

Hi S.,

Good luck, My son started this, and it takes a lot of patience, and wherewithal, NOT to respond to it. The problem is: someone responded to it in the first place - and he thought it was funny - the reaction he got from scratching.

I have to face him away from me, and usually have a hard time extricating him from my hair.

We have been going through a mantra of 'gentle touch(es)'. It sometimes helps - he'll release his grip on my hair and just run his fingers through it. (granted they get tangled, but it is different from grabbing fistfuls and yanking!)

I find that my son is a) tired, and b) bored when he does this. Distracting him with a toy sometimes works - when it doesn't usually means he's tired enough for bed or a nap.

Picking him up more often (I usually let him run free in his zone(s) in the house) seems to help a fair bit. Pointing out different things in the house and naming them also helps.

One thing I have found that is rather fun(ny) and rather breathtaking at the same time is that he LOVES MY DUSTER. An old-fashioned feather duster. We have dusted my house more times in the past 6 months than I have ever dusted in my life.

No, it doesn't spread the dust around, it attracts it like a magnet, and you shake the dust off outdoors.

The stern(ness) isn't what is going to get him to redirect - he doesn't quite 'get' the emotion/need behind it.

When he is by himself, and calm and maybe fresh from a nap, try giving him a demonstration (maybe with husband, cat, dog, grandma/pa) of gentle touches, complete with a lot of verbage directly related to gentle, patience, etc.

Good luck!
M.

I guess we're all in the same boat. My 12 month old son has been doing the same thing for 2 or 3 months. He no longer seems too interested in grabbing noses, but pinching on neck and chest is still something he does.
I am getting firmer in my reaction... saying "No" and putting him down. I'm sure he'll outgrow it, but my big concern is that he does the same grabbing thing to our 2 cats. They have long since stopped being amused and I'm afraid one will take a swipe at him unless I teach him that grabbing hurts.