What should I do about my daughter scratching my face?

Put socks on her hands

When my babies were little and did that I would be like ouchyyyyy and pretend to cry and redirect them. They learned that it hurt after awhile. Also I put baby gloves on them and sometimes socks. Definitely don’t be mean of course but just teach her. She will pick up on it. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Put long socks on her hands when you hold her.

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At 8 months that is normal. When excited they clench their hands. And sometimes it happens to be your face. Lol. Just remove your face from their overly strong death hold… And maybe say ouch…but at 8 months not much you can do.

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My five month old does the same thing, I trim and file his nails down now and the filing has helped the sharpness. We put socks on his hands and sometimes teething gloves

When she does it just grab her hands like soft but firm and say no that hurts mommy be gentle and with her hands show you gentle on your face. 8months is not too young for no and don’ts. 8 months is when there brain starts to basically inhale everything and they need to be shown do’s and don’ts. So just repeat constantly gentle.

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We would take our daughters hand and “pet” our face saying “nice touches.”

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My daughter did that…it didnt last long…thank goodness. I don’t think it’s too early to say no no…ouch and remove their hand ( once they loosen the grip a little. I had marks for a while)

Mines 7m and understands no. You just have to be consistent. Try to distract them with a toy or something else

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My daughter is 7 months and is currently doing the same thing and in all honesty I’m not taking it too serious… She’s exploring her hands and what they do. Plus she’s too young to understand what she’s doing. I’m sure it’s just a phase but put socks on her hands to avoid marks but I wouldn’t look into it too deep.

My little one used to like to repeatedly slap my face when nursing. Not hard and I know it was just how he was exploring but I still didn’t want it to continue. I would take his hand and stroke my face with it and say gentle touches over and over. He eventually stopped slapping and now caresses with gentle touches. This was also how I taught him to touch our dog because he would do the same thing. I also cut his nails every few dats because the only times he punches are when his nails get longer. It probably feels good to him. Babies are driven by what feels good so if you take away that reason it feels good it should help.

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Normal, I just make sure my face is out of reach and they seem to give up after a week or two

I bite my sons nails off. Easier than trimming them

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Trim her nails then put some gloves on or socks I used to with mine worked a treat

My daughter did the same thing. You have to teach them boundaries. Shes old enough to understand what no means.

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My little girl did this for a while. We just held her hands, looked her in the eyes, and said, “NO. We don’t scratch.” or “NO. We don’t need to touch faces.” or “No. Be gentle.”. They understand more than we think they do. As long as you are gentle but firm and keep in mind that they aren’t doing it intentionally only learning how things around them work, I think it will be fine. It will pass. :blush:

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Mine learned the phrase ‘be nice’ pretty quick. We have cats, and she gets excited and handles them rough. If I see her getting ready to be rough, I say be nice and she calms and gently pats them

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If you don’t start making boundaries now, you’re gonna have your hands full later. Tell her no! Remove her hands. If she continues on purpose, lightly pop her hand and firmly tell her NO

I remember when both my kids did that. I just yelled ow (startle yell not like yell at them) and then pretend to cry. The startle would stop them and then they caught on that they were hurting me. Only had to do it a few times and they stopped. (Less than 5each or something. I cant remember)

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Replace the behavior with something better. Like gentle touches or give her a toy to be tough to.
Say no and redirect
It takes time but it works.

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Tell her no! If she does it again slap her finger! And if that don’t work out her in her room!!!

You need file them with the soft file

The only thing you can do is keep them cut. I can only do my sons when he’s sleeping too, it’s really not that hard.

Back when mine would do this, I would open their little hand and pat my face with it. Saying nice touch. My hope was that they would begin to learn nice.

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Just tell her it’s nice nice and hold her hand away from your face

She’s 7 months so I’m not too alarmed by it.

Definitely not too early to tell her no. I started when my daughter started doing Things she shouldn’t and now at 14 months she listens 99% of the time we say no. I’d just move her hands and tell her “no”. I always tell my daughter “no ma’am” and she runs away from whatever she was doing lol.

My son is 2 and he STILL scratches the hell out of my face.

For both of mine we would say ‘easy’ and then take their hand and touch or caress our face gently with it

I tell my baby to be gentle and take her hand use a gently touch (like petting) while I’m saying the word gentle it works. She would try to hit me and all I have to say is gentle and she touches me gently. She almost 18 months now but I always told her that and it works with children who hit

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That is what they do. Just nice but frim tell her, we don’t pinch.

Tell her no, gently push her hand away, tell her she’s hurting you and giving you boo-boos.
And if she continues put her in a time out.

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I dont do “no” because they dont grasp all we mean when we say it. So that’s how you get 2yos who just scream “NO” they’re mad. Be specific. Say what you mean. “OW! Dont scratch mommy’s face! Be GENTLE.” GENTLY grab her hand and remove it.
I’ve already trained my 8mo not to claw my face, not to pull my hair, and to leave my earrings and necklace alone. We’re working on leaving the catfood alone. (That one is so tempting!!) But he’s about got it. Keep your instruction simple but clear. Use the same words each time, and ideally the same rhythm to your words as well.
This is my third kid. It has worked on all three.

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Trim the fingernails or mini gloves.

My twins are 9mo and squeeze your skin digging in their nails and may possibly slap you in the face…My thoughts is they don’t understand that it’s bad. Simply teach them no…I wouldn’t slap or scratch them back. I think they would then think to keep doing it

I would hold my sons finger tips and tell him “gentle” and help him touch my face without clawing. They aren’t fully aware of their motor skills yet at that age, so they really have no clue they’re hurting you. It was a fairly simple approach to show him how to be sweet. It takes time and consistency, but it works :slightly_smiling_face:

We have been working on “gentle touches” since 6 months.

If he dies something too rough i say “owie that hurts” and pull his hand away then use a super soothing voice to say “use gentle touches baby, gentle touches” and then use his hand to gently touch/stroke whatever it is i want him to be gentle with.

Now at 12 months a lot of the time i can verbally remind him to “use gentle touches” and he does really well

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A little pair of gloves and still be gentle and move her hand over your face gently. It takes time.

Put socks over her hands

Take her hand,open up fingers gently then guide them to touch your face and say nice touches

Are you serious she is a baby… What is wrong with people nowadays… The Internet and Facebook have people gone pure backward.

Hold her hands with a firm grip (not hard) when she does then and say owwww and ask her to please dont grab so hard, it hurts. You would be surprised how smart they really are and understand what you are saying. Repetition is what works.

My son just went through this phase. He is 11 months. I tried a couple different things such as; saying no, lightly smacking his hand but the thing that worked the best is pretending to cry when he did it. They understand the word no. Whenever I say it he shakes his head and stops what he’s doing

My son does the same… I just end up biting his off… hes almost 9months old, sometimes if i cant handle him on my own my husband will hold him and I’ll bite his nails off

No in a deep firm voice.

My little boy does this, he’s also 7 months, I think they’ll grow out of it, but it does hurt. My little one has a strong grip!

It’s a baby thing they will grow out of it just clip their nails short or put little hand mittens on them

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Ditto. It doesn’t hurt to say “oh, no no. Ouchie”… but, it’s a baby thing. Nothing to be concerned about.

Lots of hand mittens! Socks work too! Babies have demon claws ya just gotta cover that shiz up!

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My son does this too

Lol they all do it…
Yes talk to your baby…
“Awch, no, that hurts mummy” ect…
While removing babies hand.
Use socks on her hands or mittens while she’s awake and moving about.

You need to start saying no no this hurts before its to late…

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It is a phase. It’s never too early to start no. Be “nice” say ouch, no. Tap her fingers when she claws. Not hard obviously. My nephew was learning “atatat” and no at 6 months and fully comprehended. (He would go for trash cans when he had Walker time)

I would say no and put her down for a minute when my daughter did it. Usually she would just go off and play with something else or want me to pick her up again. But she figured it out that grabbing a fistful of skin or hair meant mom isn’t going to hold you. I’d only put her down for a minute though,l

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You can try saying ouchie and grabbing your face to try and let her know she hurting you.

My son is same age and does it too. I have tried giving him a replacement behavior. Instead of no and removing hand… I teach him "nicey nicey " with a flat hand and rub it on my cheek.

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Gently grab the hand, say no then redirect, or interest them in a different acticity

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You can file a babies nails with the white side of the emory board

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I would just always gently remove their hand while touching their cheek nicely with mine while saying calmly “gentle gentle”, they don’t understand no, it means nothing to them. They understand touch, reassurance, calmness. Redirection and proper demonstration of how it’s done works every time. My kids are so cuddly and loving now.

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Look sad and say “ow”, show them a nice touch to use instead, saying “gentle”. Then put them down and redirect. They will grow out of it but it’s not too early to tell them no. Show them what to do instead.

Grab her hand and start telling her no it will take a little while but she will understand

It’s a safe. My 12 month old just got over that. A few times I’d tap her back. Nothing hard, just a gentle pat on her cheek that couldn’t even just a gnat. She caught on too.

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Start no and push her hands away if she keeps doing it put her in crib for time out. And keep doing it. Do NOT let your child grow up thinking its okay to hurt you.

Mittens. Or baby socks

The child is simply exploring. Just don’t let her reach for your face. I personally bit my kids nails. I was scared of cutting them down too low. Every child does something to that extent. Whether pulling hair or earrings… if you have a problem with this just wait until she starts biting :joy::joy:

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It’s never too early for no. When she does it, tell her no, nothing else and put her down.

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Mine is 8 month boy and I “Ouchie that hurts mummy” or “Oww that’s not sweet and you need to be sweet”

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Never too early to say no. My son is 2 months old & i have told him no since birth. (He liked to get upset & scratch his face)

My 2 year old grandson has starting to hit. Do yaw have this problem

I take my sons hand gently and rub it on my face and tell him nice touch nice touch he has started to learn…

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Mine started at the same time. I say “no, we go easy” and take her hand from my face. Shes 9 months now and knows that no means to stop.

It is not too early. You are teaching her to be a human. Say no. Set her up to be a kind and loving person. Be stern and get the point across. She will stop and she will start respecting you as the authority figure. No need to get nasty just firm. A loud sharp NO and a quick grab of the hand will startle her. Might seem harsh to some, but this is unacceptable behavior.

Tell her ow that’s not nice. And then use her hand to gently touch your face and tell her be easy or be nice. That’s what we did with my daughter. Now when she touches ANYTHING new she asks first if she should be easy lol

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Say owe and no then run her hand down your face saying gentle, be nice :heart:

Some babies just find it funny lol put some mittens or socks on

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We started telling Both our daughters no and smacking their hands very lightly at one-month-old. It didn’t hurt them, but it broke their hearts. And it worked wonders.

And also tried telling her that it hurts you and look her in the eyes. Like it really hurts. That also worked with both our daughters and they stopped.

My little one did that too. So I would just put my hand on his so he’d flatten his hand out and say gentle to him. He still does it sometimes but not as hard and as soon as I say gentle knows he’s being too rough and he needs to be nicer and not scratch and pinch. They like to explore at that age and test out limits. To see what they can do and what they can’t. They are curious. There’s to no intention of hurting in their eyes they just wanna know. Plus if you give a big reaction about it they may think it’s funny and do it again. Best way to teach them not to do that (in my opinion) is to just stay calm and show them a nicer less painful way to explore :blush:

My kids did it ! She will phase out of it soon . She’s learning . Just move her hand and remind her to be gentle . She’s not trying to be mean . She’s just learning how it feels on her fingers when she does that .

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show her gentle touch, hold her hand and guide it gently over your face as you smile after a minute or 2 allow her to do it without your guidance if she pinches/scratches say no and makes a sad face and move away from her for a few minuets x

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Lady, don’t put up with this. Smack her little hand. That will work. Trust me.

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Say “ouch!” Pretty sternly and then put her down. She’ll pick up pretty quick that you don’t like that and it hurts and if she wants you to hold her for longer she will stop.

I started with just saying easy and putting my kids hands to my face real easy… at 1 my daughter knows what easy means and she usually tries to be easy. Kids are just overly excited sometimes and dont understand things hurt.

Its not too early to try to introduce the word no, infect I suggest it as someone who didnt introduce the word until it was too late lol. I dont think the baby is scratching maliciously though. Shes still young and exploring the new things in her world. Part of that is grabbing things. Like everyone she just needs to learn boundaries. I try to use a nail file on my kids after I cut their nails because it’s almost impossible to get the corners on my two youngest. So I suggest trying to file the sharpness away after cutting nails and just gently introducing the word no.

Say ow and move her hands. Fake cry and saw that hurts. Owie. She will learn.

My son does this. He just turned 9 months old. I just pull his hands down and tell him no.

They all do that, just move their hand away. They’re too young to understand. If she keeps doing it then put her down

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If she hurts you, move her hand and say no. After like the 4th time, they get the idea and stop. They’ll probably do it again in 5 minutes but they’re just learning how the world works. :slight_smile:

She doesnt know shes scratching she just feels a squishy face and thinks. Hmmm. Whats this…
Its like a sensory thing.

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It’s a phase. Just say ow! And take her hands away from your face gently and hold her hands.

Teach her ‘gentle’ rather than telling her ‘no.’ It’s always better to tell an infant or young child what you want them to do instead of what you don’t want them to.

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It’s ok to teach a child “no”. Smacking hands at that age is really not the best route. “Gentle” or “nice” are good words too. My daughter pinches and scratches while she’s breastfeeding and I do move her hand and say “nice.” She scratched my arm up real bad too, it hurts!

My little girl is 10 months old & does this, it’s just a stage. Just say ow & try to not make a huge deal but let them learn that it hurts & say gentle or easy. They will pick up what it means.

It’s normal but you need to teach her NO. And a little powpow on the hand won’t damage the child. It will teacher her what is and isn’t okay.

Tell her No! Teach be nice,gentle,easy, soft touches wherever word you want to use

Lol my daughters is the same age and does the same thing hahaha and she also slaps hahaha but I do stop her hand if she starts scratching or even pinching and I say no. She hasn’t done it as much she’ll just touch my face now

Teach her what nice and ouch is. All babies do it, cuties, body language or facial expressions are more effective than words for babies. And I love it when they start to copy me. Oh I miss those times.

Never too early to teach have you tried scratch mitts?