What is the proper way to tell an 8 mo. old baby “NO”?
ByQuestion by Jenny Hammer: What is the proper way to tell an 8 mo. old baby “NO”?
I have a very independant 8 mo. old girl who just started crawling and gets into EVERYTHING! I am telling her “no-no” in a stern voice. It makes her stop… for about a second. I want to start the right way NOW before she becomes a holy terror. I don’t want to do anything to cause future problems
Best answer:
Answer by Mars1111
Firmly say “NO” and remove her from what ever she is doing, she’ll probably cry, but if you stay consistent she will start to understand some things are off limits. Good Luck!
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9 Comments
June 21st, 2011 at 10:18 am
Pick her up and move her as many times as it takes for her to stop. And continue telling her No in the stern voice. Don’t smile or anything that would just confuse her. Kids just get into things it’s just how they are!!! My son used to get into everything my make up ( flushed mascara what a mess). Dumped out baby powder all over the living room. Poured out a bottle of lotion…. I could go on for days !! Don’t get to upset it’s just life.
June 21st, 2011 at 11:14 am
I don’t see anything wrong with it how is she to learn not to touch something. I have an 11 month old and at about that age I had to tell him no step, no tv, to fire place and yes everything is child proof in my house but the child proof areas drew his attention more like he knew that was not there the other day. Now at 11 months old I tell him Jordan no fireplace and he just walks away. In that short time he learned. Now don’t get me wrong he still gets into everything. And it is funny I tell him those are mommy pots and he will look at me a laugh and keep doing it. But its to cute to stop him but if we don’t teach them no who will the doctor when they are hurt
June 21st, 2011 at 11:28 am
My son was walking at 8 months and I just didn’t know what to do with myself because he was into everything. I had to start telling him NO and he would do the same, stop for a second then continue.
I would remove him from the situation and replace it with something else. A different toy or a different room.
Keep in mind, just because she’s crawling doesn’t mean she’ll grasp the concept of no. My son knows what “no” means, but he’s also now 17 months old.
Just be consistent and keep saying no.
Best of luck!
June 21st, 2011 at 12:13 pm
I tell my son to STOP PLEASE pick him up and move him some where else. You can tell them why they need to stop.
June 21st, 2011 at 12:24 pm
well you arent really suppose to say NO to a 8 month old. My niece is 8 months old and what we do is, remove her from whatever she is doing and say something like ” Mommy doesnt want you to play in the dog water”. lets play over here, and we bring out something she can play with. You have to re direct. it isnt an easy thing to do since some baby can be stubborn but they get it. Good luck I hope that helped
June 21st, 2011 at 1:20 pm
Considering she’s 8 months old and is very curious how things work and why they are what they are and what they can do, I suggest moving EVERYTHING you do not want touched and filling in your electrical outlets. At 8 months old if you keep saying, no, all she will learn is how to repeat it to you by the time she’s 12 months and keep saying it to every question you’ll have. If you don’t want her to touch it or get into it, move it or pack it away until she’s old enough (I’d say 18 months to 2 years) and can understand the concept and why you are telling her no. 8 month olds will look at you because you say something, and then they’ll go right back to doing it. Moving the items and things will preserve your items and your sanity LOL. When you’re done moving all the goodies out of the way, put three or four boxes around the room with toys and acceptable baby safe items she can take out and discover. It’ll give her the same sense of discovery and curiousity without wrecking your things.
June 21st, 2011 at 1:47 pm
I used to give my sone the stern “NO” and he would look at me with the puzzled “huh, but why” look on his face and shake his head which might I add was adorable. He thought it was a game at first because I would give him a toy or something to keep his attention off of whatver he was not supposed to be doing. Now he knows when i say “huh uh” or my little “eeeeh eeeeh” he stops what he is doing. He is almost 14 months and well behaved ( i think lol)
June 21st, 2011 at 2:01 pm
First of all, be prepared to say it a MILLION times. At 8 months old she just isn’t going to get it. It’s best to just keep things she is not allowed to touch out of her reach and avoid any temptation.
My son is 21 months and he is pretty good at listening, but I would say 20% of the time the temptation or want is just too great! This is normal. You can expect a certain level of “terror” during the toddler years as they get more independant and along with that, frustrated at their limits.
One thing though: I try to avoid just saying “no” or “no-no”. I am a firm believer that kids who say “no!” all the time hear “no!” all the time. I am not perfect, but I try to be a bit more specific with my son. for example: “no touching that lamp, it could fall and hurt you”, or “no climbing on that chair please it is not safe” etc etc, you get the idea.
I agree that now is the time to start, just know that she won’t really get it for a long while yet, distraction will be your best friend for quite some time yet!
June 21st, 2011 at 2:57 pm
Here’s what I would do:
Put everything you don’t want her to get into up high on shelves on the wall. You can build them for cheap. That way, there’s nothing for her to get into. Also, consider a playpen.