What should I do about my daughter scratching my face?

My daughter is seven months old, working for 8 months. Recently my daughter has started reaching up to touch faces. That doesn’t bother me. But she’s started digging her nails in a full claw motion and squeezing as hard as she can. I try and trim them, but it’s hard when I can only do it when she’s asleep. She still manages to scratch and leaves marks when they’re cut. Is this a stage? Is it too early to start “no”? I don’t want to teach her it’s not ok to touch people, but I’m tired of her scratching me. Any suggestions?

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U can use the mitts or get help cutting the nails .

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Go back to using mittens

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Put little mittens or socks on her hands.

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My daughter will scratch her belly and legs if they are bare. It’s so weird.

she’s 7 months old :joy::joy::woman_facepalming:t2: she doesn’t know any better

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Trim & file them. And little mittens. She’ll outgrow it and she really doesn’t know any better.

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No its not to early for no. Move her hand every time she goes towards your face and gently say no she will learn my son did this too. And with constant saying no and always moving his hand sometimes 7x in row he finally stopped

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She’s just a baby she’ll grow out of it she doesn’t know any better

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Lorttt she’s 7 months remove her hands!simple as 🤦

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It’s just a phase. She’ll come out of it soon enough.

Emery board(file) works wonders

No it’s not too early for no and you can put socks on her hands or lil gloves to help

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Dont tell her no
No is an easy to learn and that’ll be easy for her to say :woman_shrugging:
You’ll tell her no, she’ll tell you no
Over exaggerate the hurt and put her down, after a while she’ll realize what’s happening and will probs stop doing what causes her to be put down. Possibly

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Just move her hand away and say “no, that hurts”. She wont understand, though. Lol

She’s plenty old enough to be told no. Say ow that hurts and remove her hand while telling her no.

Take her hand off your face and in a serious tone say ouch that hurts Mommy.
Then use her hand to touch your face and say gentle, I like it when your gentle!

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Have you ever been around kids prior to having one?

You should spend some time in some groups with moms and babies…

They also kick you in your sleep, or punch you in the eyeball… sometimes they might bite… just sayin… especially if you co sleep- the older they get…

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Def say “no” and “ouch”… but put socks on her hands until she stops.

Just keep moving her hands off your face. Eventually start saying ouch and then no. She will learn. Shes a baby.

It’s ok to start saying no and teach her nice touch

She’s not to young to be told no to. Simply put her hands down and say No. If she reaches to scratch again tell her no again then don’t let her touch your face. She will learn but you need to say no each time and remove her hands. It’s normal.

My daughter does the same thing !

Say no and place her hands away. I use to cut nail right after a bath they are much softer

it’s just a phase all babies go through it. as she gets older she’ll stop on her own don’t stress about it

My daughter done this. She’s 8 months old and knows the world “no” and the quit look. Lol

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My 6 month old just started this too. Feel like it lasted a month or two when my daughter was little. Just discourage it by giving them a finger to grab instead

My daughter does that and she is nearly 1 she like to look at ya face when she does it which i say not nice. She will grow out of it they r just learning x

I’d go as far as to say almost all babies do this. With my kids we just gently put their hands down and say “no no” and do a distraction activity like tickling or tossing in the air, etc. After this stage she may start to “pat” your face when you’re holding her, she’s just excited and doesn’t know how strong she can be or that it hurts. It’s a phase and it will be over before you know it! You got this Momma :muscle:t3::kissing_heart:

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I’m it’s never too early for them to learn "no"and it has to be stern so she knows you mean it and if that doesn’t work pop that little butt when you say it and tell her no scratching

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Find a way to trim or file her nails more often, use the mittens, and redirect. At 7 months, she’s not even capable of comprehending the cause and effect of what she’s doing and you’re reaction, and she definitely can’t control her motion efficiently. You can just move her hands, tell her it hurts and redirect. Saying “no” works, but it also teaches them “no” earlier when there are so many other ways to teach/explain to them.

React
Ouch ! That hurts Mommy, no…then put her down

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She’s looking for attention hold her hands tightly and say the word no very loudly

Keep her nails cut or put mittens on her.

I file my sons nails and sing to him and he sits nicely. Also when he does this because he does I take his hands in mine amd say no. Then I say sweet and I move his hands to rub my face then I rub his face and i saw sweet. Ps—he still isnt sweet. So then I take his hands say no and him and put him in his seat on the floor and then after a minute I’ll go back over to him and rub his face and say awww sweet. He does it less but at times still does it. They arent meaning to hurt you they are learning how to touch but I want to teach early so im being consistent amd he is doing it less.

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Shes a baby. It was not by any means bad.

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Let me enlighten you, people don’t want to be touched by a dirty little hands, or pinched or scratched. take her hand and tell her no, no scratch in your mean but soft voice, if she’s leaving marks on you time to put a stop to it. Babies just don’t grow out of it, they’ll continue and it will get worse.

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I’m already teaching my 6 month old ‘kind hands’ and she knows what ‘no’ means by the tone.
She doesn’t get kind hands yet and won’t for some time, however by helping her stroke the dogs and touch people kindly, while showing her positivity with it, she’ll understand it very quickly

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Never too early to teach no

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Break the bad habit right now. Tell her no and show her how to be nice.

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Say easy and loosen her grip on your face then pet her face lightly as you continue to say easy

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Possibly try moving her hand away and saying “easy” in a loving soft voice and then take her hand and let her touch your face easy , show her how to touch nicely, and then take your hand and touch her face gently while telling her “easy”it’s never too young show them. All mine were and are face grabbers, it helped me( and still helping with my youngest) and maybe it may help you hopefully. Good luck mama!

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Wtf?? Are u people for real?? She is a baby!!! My goodness u can’t deal with that how the hell u gonna react when she accidentally head butts u and she will at some point but not intentionally. I can’t believe some of the responses to this! I’ve raised 3 children and they all did this but they didn’t do it purposely lol. It’s a baby thing. They don’t know!! U people!!!

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She needs to learn boundaries early. It’s okay to tell her no.

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Deflection, babies don’t really understand what NO is when they are little. If it’s difficult to keep on nail triming, give her something to hold/squeeze when she starts reaching.

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My daughter knew what the word no was by 8 months (Having a new puppy helped lol)

If the nails are cut right they won’t scratch

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I have cut the nails of many babies with no problem. In this case hold her hand to pull away from your face but gently say nooooooo. Don’t smile bc she thinks it’s all play.

My baby is 5 months and she’s a face grabber. I just take her hands off my face and kiss her palms it kind of works for me so she doesn’t grab as much but she does put her palms to my lips for kisses now especially during breast feeding time. Which im okay with. I think it’s super cute.:relaxed:

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They also sale mittens for babies to cover their hands

Scratch her back :woman_shrugging::rofl:

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Around that age I started teaching “nice hands” if they tried to hurt you (stretching, slapping, ex.) I would gentle take their hands and have them rub the face gently and slowly while saying “nice hands baby, nice hands. means hands give owies, we don’t like owies” or I would open the palm of their hand and gently stick in on the cheeks and hold them there so they couldn’t grab or smack and say the same thing… talk calmly but in a way they know it’s not a game and after a few time of doing that they grasp the concept fast, so all you would have to say is “nice hands” and they automatically show you nice hands. at 8 months they usually are just pushing boundaries and see what they can do, so when they use “mean hands” it’s usually just to see what happens vs actually trying hurt you, it’s a learning thing and if you correct quickly and in a positive form, they learn fast…

Definitely not too early to start no. I used to grab my sons hand and say no, that hurts mommy and kind of show sadness and he would love on me like he was sorry. He didn’t do as much after that. And he’s the sweetest thing now, if he thinks he hurt you playing or anything, he apologizes and gives hugs.

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Let her touch your face and the redirect her before she squeezes. Also it’s best to file her nails vs clipping. Helps with scratching herself as well.

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I would try the mittens , my son is in his 50’s and still has a scar on his face from scratching his face as a baby wish we had mittens back then.

Don’t let her do that…period.

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Put baby socks on her hands at night. Then the nails won’t actually touch her face

My daughter is 7 months and does the same thing and pulls on my necklace that her brother got me, its totally normal. She doesn’t understand that it hurts and the word “no”. What i’ve done is just grab her hands when she does it and kiss them or turn it around and do motions of dancing with her arms and she gets more focused on the funny faces and dancing that she doesn’t scratch anymore.

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Be firm, but gentle…and take her hand inside yours…meaning cover her whole hand in your hand. I want to say “grab” her hand, but don’t just grab and yank!
Make sure your hand is completely wrapped around hers so that it holds her fingers down.
Say “NO” firmly. And then take her hand and stroke your face softly with it. Do this while saying “ aaahh ahhh, nice Mommy”
Then stroke her own face with her hand, saying “aahhh ahhh, nice (insert name).
Do this every time.
She should understand in about a week. Then she will learn to stroke your face and say “aahhh ahhh mommy” instead.
If all of that fails.
Fake cry when you take her hand and tell her no. Tell her that hurts mommy.
She’ll get it.
She’s doing what all babies do.

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I would always just grab their little hands and play. They don’t understand exactly what they are doing that little. Just learning all the feels, looks, and sounds!

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She is getting old enough to start understanding your reactions. If she tries it say owie and lightly push her hand away. Also give her something else to do with her hands. Maybe a toy or activity

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Sometimes I feel like people ask questions on here just to get a reaction out of others. Idk tho maybe y’all are serious lol.
One your baby is still to young to be taught not to scratch. Two file your babys nails don’t clip them it makes them sharp and you risk cutting their skin. And last use sock or mittens on your baby’s hands. You can Find baby mittens at just about any store That carries baby clothes.

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Probably cause you have her working.:rofl::sweat_smile:

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My 7 month old has been doing this for About 2 months now. So when she does I just redirect her hand and tell her “gentle touch” and I’ll take her hand and rub my face lightly and then let go so she can mimic the motion. If she tries to scratch I’ll tell her again “no, gentle touch” to reminder her the correct way to touch :heart:

Ok I always took his hand away and then rubbed my face with it and said easy hands. He would always claw me nursing a nursing necklace helped as well.

I think it’s normal, she is learning about the things she can do with her hands. Just tell her no firmly but nicely. It probably won’t work for a good while but she’ll understand eventually. Wait until she starts pulling your hair lol, that’s all my daughter does during every breastfeeding session, and she stops eating if I tell her no or move her hands away

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My son pinched until he was like 2 years and two months. It was his soothing thing to get to sleep, he would pinch the back of my arm and rub. When he would do it after a while it really hurt so I would always remove the bottle from his mouth, say “no no nice please” and move his hand away. I would repeat until he finally stopped. All babies do it, its soothing. Just tell her no and keep doing it until she stops. It’s important to stop feeding also so that they understand if they dont stop they dont get to eat

They make lil baby mittens for that reason. We has to use them cause she was also scratching her face.

Just move her hand away and say no, she will eventually get it

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Pull her hands away…

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Just keep doing what your doing, say no and redirect her to something else, it’s a reflex at this age learning to open and shit hands, grab things maybe give her a.stuffed animal to grab or something, but nope you can say no but she wont understand the meaning for a while

Its a phase. Every baby does it. They just get too excited and dont understand that it hurts.

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It’s normal. Just move her hands away and say something like “ow! be nice to mommy please”

This is a stage my grandson does it and he doesn’t understand "no"she will outgrow it

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Trim nails and put mittens on .

She’s. Seven. Months. Old. She. Is. A. Tiny. Baby. She. Does. Not. Understand. FFS… :roll_eyes:

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I learned very quickly to move just before the squeezing started.

Put your finger in her palm. Let her hold and squeeze your hand. When it starts to feel uncomfortable for you. She’s learning her grasp reflex which is Very important. She’s also recognizing different textures (“touch and feel”) while squeezing your face, she’s also exploring you.

I say- ground her or reform school… your only options…:woman_facepalming:

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My 4 month old does this and I just deal with it, whether his nails are cut or not, they’re still claws lol

This is normal. You could teach her “nice touches” and rub her arm. I did this with three of my kids and it worked like a charm. Make sure you cut her nails as well

It’s normal, but that doesn’t mean you have to tolerate it. Just be ready for it and redirect. You can say “no no” to mark that you don’t want the behavior to occur and move her hand gently. She won’t automatically know what that means, but as you stop her each time as you say no she learns that no means you’re going to stop the behavior. How long it takes them to learn what no means is based on how stubborn they are… Lol…

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You’re the parent. When did you plan to begin to teach “No!” It’s one of the most necessary words for good parenting.
If a behavior is not okay… say… no!

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Hah! My daughters 14 months and pinches and squeezes…im convinced this child is a devil spawn :rofl::smiling_imp:🤷 she knows what no means and knows the difference of when u start to get annoyed or angry when it hurts really bad lol…she never really did it too bad when she was that young but she did when she was nursing…she’d leave scratch marks on my stomach…just try to be gentle going aboit as your little one is still pretty young and definitely consistent in her learning the word no…im sure she doesn’t fully understand yet but in a couple months she will

they all do this… just do your best to keep her nails trimmed and when she does it say “ouch, no we dont do that” and gently remove her hands … in time she will learn same with pulling hair

Pull her arm away. Say no. Gotta teach early. If you are consistent they will stop.

You’ve got to cut them, even if it’s hard hold them as still as possible and cut. I do it when my baby is feeding to make it easier. For my first I bought baby mittens, works like a charm

My son did this. And I know it’s totally normal. My dr said just say we don’t do that. And face him away from you in your lap for a minute with no attention. As well as teaching and showing nice hands. It has been successful for us thus far . Although he does grab my boyfriends( his fathers) face all the time still. But doesn’t do it to me or the dog anymore :joy::joy::joy:

I say sit down and have a stern chat with her. Let her know this isn’t nice and if she doesn’t stop she will have to pack up her shit.
Kids these days going around doing what ever they want.

No seriously it’s really just a stage I used to just tell my little guy no thank you (yes I am that polite mom well when there were younger now I fling he F bomb around so they know I am serious) and put him down on the floor.

Your face will heal.

Baby will get over the stage and start something new lol

At home I would put socks on their hands not attractive but normally effective

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My daughter done the same thing. It’s most likely not on purpose, she probably just wants to grab to feel or get your attention even if she already has it. She’s still little, try putting baby socks or mittens on her hands. They work like a charm.

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It’s never too early to Teach a child where baby the word no As long as you let her do it for him they’re going to keep doing it you can gently put their hands down when she does it and just say no

I would give a stern no, tell her ouch that hurts. Move her hands away and move her away from you.

  1. Try biting her nails down. Slightly less sharp. 2. Try saying “nice” and show her how nice feels by touching her face at the same time. My 8 month old got it most of the time. If he decided he didn’t care, then…
  2. If she grabs you anyway, you say “Ow! That hurts! No!” in a low, firm tone. Then you put her down and walk away. No mommy time if she can’t play nice. I’m not saying she will learn right away, but eventually she’ll connect that hurting mommy means no interaction. And if she wants mommy time, she has to use “nice touch”. Be consistent. #1 rule with any type of consequence is consistancy. First show her nice touch, then if she hurts you, tell her no and walk away. Every. Single. Time.
    That’s it.

Its Definitely a phase. All babes do it.
Theyre just learning how to use their hands and dont know their own strength. Just testing things out! Along with your patience :joy:
Obv redirect and say ow thats not nice it hurts etc.

My son never did but sounds like mittens might work. Say NO and put mittens on?

Definitely not too early to start saying no. But she’s in a phase of discovering things, especially different features of people. Your Mama, your most likely the person she spends 99% of the time with so your her #1. Instead of saying no when she’s trying to explore your face, try teaching her to be gentle. My 1 year old (on Feb. 17th) gives lovings by putting hands on either of your cheeks and mushing his forehead and nose into you, and when he was younger his claws definitely got me a time or two but he’s pretty gentle with it now

Put booties on her hands

Put baby socks on both her hands when holding her not alone problem solved lol.

Following! Got a 1 year old doing the same!