When to start "disciplining"? Baby help needed!

slap his hand let him no its not ok,but at this age he is still figuring out his wrong from rights and laughing at everything only ables him to think its funny all of the time.

Just keep telling him no. He will learn.

I think what you are doing - moving him away from the situation and saying no at the same time should do the trick.

I wouldn't spank either at his age.

keep up the NO'S he will catch on,,,

You are definitely on the right track. I say "No" and use the tone with my five month old. He is showing signs of understanding that the tone is different. My reference books say that kids do begin distinguishing between "right" and "wrong" before a year old (with a little help from Mom & Dad).

He is definitely NOT old enough at this point to understand a reprimand or a punishment. From his vantage point, he is trying his best to figure out the world around him using ALL of his senses. From your vantage point, some things he does are annoying to you (the diaper change joke) and some things he does can be dangerous to him.

Since I don't agree with hitting a child (this will simply teach them that when you don't like something someone is doing, hit them), then you are absolutely right to start using good discipline techniques - some are going to work at this young an age (keeping him away from dangerous things, either by fencing them off or by restricting his access some other way); some are not going to work at this age - the "no" said with a stern voice and look of disapproval. He's a baby - he cannot discern yet the subtleties of human expressions, nor is he particularly upset when you're upset about something - it may be a source of great amusement to him at this age. Don't frustrate yourself and damage him by using discipline techniques that either don't work, or he just cannot understand and will damage him.

He will, however, grow into the age in the next couple of years where he will start to understand the "no" and he will be a little more interested in how his actions affect you. The biggest mistake parents make is projecting their own ability to understand cause and effect, as well as care about others' feelings, onto their little child. They view "bad behavior" as something the child is doing because they want to upset their parents, or get back at them, or just because they like being bad. Nothing could be farther from the truth. They just cannot make those judgements at such a young age.

Ask your pediatrician for a good book about child mental & social development. You will be amazed at just how old a child has to be before they really make the connection between their actions and the resulting consequences.

And, congrats on having such a happy baby - you must be giving him lots of love and security. That's the most important thing - let him grow naturally and safely and give him lots of hugs and kisses. There will be enough time in his life for the other kinds of discipline.

I think you're on the right track. Consistency goes a long way.

At this age, I would continue using 'no' and possibly redirection. Obviously, you can't really do redirection for a poppy diaper change though.

At about 14 months we started a very short time out w/ my son. When he did something he wasn't supposed to do, we'd say "time out" and place him in the time out area. Well, he'd leave, and we'd simply put him back. It generally took about 10 times putting him back before he would stay about 20 seconds. Then we'd go get him, tell him what he did and hug him. It felt like we were totally stupid and that he couldn't understand, but we remained consistent, and now he's almost 3 and ALWAYS stands in timeout, and they really seem to work for him. At the younger age, it was basically a structured redirection, and now it may be more of a 'punishment' I suppose, but it's also a way for him to sorta regain his cool.

"Slap his hand". absolutely NOT. All you're teaching him is hitting, and he will start hitting you, then you're dealing with a power struggle of which you will win.

"Tell him NO". He will learn to say NO! Then you'll get mad because he sassed you (that is how you will interpret it). Use a different sound.. that gets his attention, that he can associate with "danger", or "warning". A sound like, "EH EH".

Teach him "hurt", when he uses something for leverage to stand and it topples. When it topples, be there so he understand things he does creates consequence. YOU don't want to hurt him to teach him this.. he needs to understand the word hurt, so that when you say it, he can associate.

Patience.

You let him crawl away from a diaper change thinking it was cute.. why wouldn't he think it's okay? Now it's not so funny to YOU. Give him something to focus his attention on while changing his diaper.. a toy, a baby biscuit, something fascinating.

Toilets are fun! Keep the door closed or put up a gate. Give him a pan of water on the porch to splash in. Babies are easily entertained. Make sure you stay with him, babies can drown in less than three inches of water.

My children never learned hitting from a simple hand slap. This is the most effective dicipline method for children because it is natural human instinct to react to and stop our actions that cause a negative outcome. He will learn much quiker this way. You do not have to cause pain or slap the heck out of him by any means but slapping/patting the hand works especially well for children who do not react to "NO". Simply using no or stop will not prevent bad behaviour in your small child if they have learned they can get away with ignoring you. A small pat/slap will reinforce that this is no joking matter and mom and dad are to be taken serious.

Sorry if I sound opinionated I just find it funny when I see the "no spanking crowd" moms in the store. It is always their children acting like little shi+s.

At this age all you can do and should do is remove him or keep him from harmful/dangerous situations, any kind of discouragement at this age will discourage him from learning. I slapped Audrey's hand once when I was very angry at her when she was about 14 months old - and now we are dealing with the fact that she slaps at our hands when she is angry (I take full responsibility for that one) Audrey was 18 moths old before she started to even remedially understanding discipline and consequences that was when she started to get things like "If you yell, you don't get what you want"

I can't give you any advice, but I do wish you good luck.

I went as far as saying no and then cry. My son didn't know what to think of that so he stopped.
A little pat on the hand with a "no" and then redirectng is good. Also let him know that it makes you mad and explain why. This will help him to understand what no means after a while.
Oh the learning process!

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http://mamasource.com

enjoy! I love it.

I have to agree with most of the comments already left. I have a 2 1/2 year old and she was a handful at that age. Redirection, as well as a simple explanation seem to be your best bet. At that age they obviously won't understand you if you break out into a lecture about why touching the light socket is dangerous. I would just give a firm no and say, "Mommy doesn't want you to get hurt." Good luck and don't worry it only gets better from here.

The best and least frustrating course of action is to change the environment. H e pulls the computer tower down? Move it. Plays in the toilet? Keep the door closed. And try to give as many yesses as nos. In fact, the less you need to say no the better.

It sounds like you are on the right track. I did the "Eh Eh" with my son. He is now 2 and although he has been the sweetest babies, I am afraid I now know why they call it the terrible twos:)

I am very old fashioned i guess, but I used a play pen when my kids were little, they are now 42 and 39. It kept them safe, gave me some mobility and I think, they actually felt more secure in their own area. Of course they had time out of their play pen too.

I would recommend a Childhood Education Class to help you learn what kids can understand and at what age.

For absolutely sure, he can't understand why his beloved mommy would cause him pain. Don't go that way.

All of the advice and education can only help you, you must also see what works with your child. But remember whatever you do, you are teaching him every single day with every single action. Hitting teaching hitting. Yelling teaches yelling.

Good luck and a hug for your little one.

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No and redirecting he will get it. I started 1 minute time outs with James at a year old you will have to start out with putting him there and sitting beside him. Don't say nothing to him for a minute then get down to his level and talk to him about what he did.

Thanks for posting to Point Karma ! Great comments. Have a great night!

All you can do is positively enforce the good things he does. Change is diaper with one hand and keep the other on his belly and try to focus his attention on your face by singing or making faces. Then when the diaper change is complete, tell him he did a good job and that is a such a good baby.
Get a lock for your toilet and keep the bathroom door closed. That will stop that right away.

As for him pulling himself up with items including bookshelves, computers, chairs and desks, there is no way to stop it. He is learning how to stand and walk. The cruising stage is super important, the only thing you can do is try to keep him safe by watching him. If you can't watch him put him in a gated area or a play pen until you can let him some freedom to discover without getting crushed!

Definitely the "redirect" will work... Also, sometimes, you've just got to be stronger than they are and hold 'em in place... "Baby proofing" a house NEVER works because they will find a way to get around things if left to their own devices long enough... I swear I got a permanent "bend" in my back during the first 2 years or so of my daughter's life from standing over the top of her with my arms out shielding her from things and things from her! ...lol...

I told my kids No so many times when they were young. That was one of their first words. No no no no. I head it every day lol

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I think you should remove him from the area and tell him no. Make sure you have your house baby proof. It anything is out that you have to remove him all the time. Either move it or gate it off. He is at the moment exploring and trying to figure things out.

I really don't think hitting the hand is the answer at this age. At this age I am afraid all it will do is teach him to hit back.

I agree with Wilma D. and some others regarding make his play area safe and continue what you are doing. Yes--Get a toilet lock, find some covers for the DVD buttons (or make one of your own he can't get off), put things out of sight--sometimes even a towel will do because if he can't see it, he may not remember it is there! And look into other ways you will need to keep your house safe--safety plugs in the outlets, medicines out of reach, etc. You don't need to spend a mint, just look at it from his point of view (literally!) to see what might innocently interest him and make it harder to get to. (Catch him in the act? Say "No" nicely and firmly, then redirect him into something he CAN do, so his interest and learning continue to be active and he is doing something you think is safe.)
Re:diaper "fun," maybe you can have a toy handy that fascinates him and he only gets to play with it during diaper changes ( for a while we used a toy bear that had a bell inside.)

And, since we had stairs here that were difficult to gate, we made a play area in the living room (a la the "play pen" idea) and we used a baby play yard. with plastic "gates in a circle. When he was inside that with his toys and books and snuggle area, he could tootle around all he wanted and pull himself up, etc, but still couldn't really get into anything. (Then I could cook dinner!) And it even worked until he was 2 1/2 because it was his space and he liked it.
There are also myriad books available for your education--try a used bookstore in your area so you don't have to pay top dollar and you can even access a lot of information online because a lot of parenting information sources post on the net, so check that out (sometime when you have hours to read! :-) )
Hope this helps, you are blessed with a happy healthy little guy who has a loving attentive parent interested in doing her best for him.
Blessings!

gosh thats a hard one. your first instinct is it never soon enough and some levels that true. A firm no a child learns easily. But consistency I think is the key. Parenting is not a democracy. As a child is exposed to more in life your challenges will change. I believe the key is consistency in a foundation laid early and built upon. good luck as you will make mistakes but it will be a learning process for all.

everything is repetition

good luck with your new disciplining, hope all is going well

What Sheryl O. said.

They don't get impulse control until they're a bit older, it's unrealistic to expect it of them. We just have to do our best to redirect and lay the groundwork for later.  I have a copy of The Portable Pediatrician for Parents - there are short sections under each age/stage of development explaining what's going on with them and what we can expect.  It's saved me a lot of frustration.  (There's an updated version, too.)