My 14 month old is hitting me and kicking me a lot lately...

My DD never, ever did this to me and I feel so upset and at a loss what to do about it. If he does hit me, I say "No, hitting. (or kicking)" firmly and put him down and walk away. Then he will cry hysterically, throw himself on the floor, bang his head, etc., etc. I'm trying to zone in on the triggers, but it's not even really when he's tired or hungry, he me with toys, or gets excited and kicks me, etc. I don't know, maybe I need to just ignore it because he's looking more for the reaction? I don't even know. I just know that he's the moodiest baby ever lately and it's making me sad

Re: My 14 month old is hitting me and kicking me a lot lately...

IMO, he's hitting for 2 reasons, either he needs your attention and doesn't really know how else to express what he's expressing, or he's frustrated and angry and doesn't have the words to express that.

Get to his level look him in the ace and give him words. If you think he's hitting for one reason or another say "I see that you're mad" .. etc
Then explain, "you can't hit me if you are mad, you can hit this pillow." "boom! boom!"
but "I will not let you hit/kick me, it hurts me"
When they know you understand they are much calmer.

If he just wants attention, say "I will not let you hit me, but you can do gentle, see ... how nice gentle on mommy's hair, so nice gentle on mommy arm, I love gentle thank you... "

I don't know if this will work for you, but it works wonders for me. DS was hitting and kicking me at 10m. He doesn't hit people anymore, but he does go "boom boom" on everything in sight.

he still kicks me out of frustration at diaper changes, I have to remind him, I know he hates it, but I will not let him kick me, because it hurts. He seems to feel bad about it, I think he really knows the difference, but can't handle not being able to express what he doesn't like about the diaper change. I remind him that I understand how he is feeling. "I can see you don't like diaper change" "You don't like laying down"

He's been kicking a lot less, but its still there.