Hang in there! My son has been hitting for a while now (probably since he was one year old), though it's gotten better as of late. He usually only hits me or his father, but when it happens, we immediately grab his hand, say "NO" very firmly, and immediately put him in timeout for a couple of minutes. After a few minutes, we go back to him and tell him he was in timeout because he hit us, and he then has to say "sorry". This has cut down on his hitting tremendously, though when he's really frustrated, he still hits, even sometimes going as far as kicking us when we grab his hand and hold it. We've tried everything, and the firm "no" plus timeout seems to work best.
Hang in there...toddlers just don't know how to express their emotions or frustration. Your daughter will grow out of this hitting phase! Oh, and one other thing that we've done is to tell Jack to use his words when he's frustrated, instead of hitting. (He's nearly 2 1/2). That works as well. Hope this helps!
PS...we've dealt with screaming, too...LOL. Toddlers really know how to do a number on parents, don't they? :)

I agree with Mommy224. Spotting the patterns of the behavior will help you figure out its cause.

A lot of things happen in the first year. There's a growth spurt around 12 months. Then, depending on how many teeth your child has, there could still be another 1-3 sets on the way. Molars are the worst and can bring on this behavior. My daughter gave me a bloody nose once when she was having a bad teething day. She nailed me with her foot while I was changing her. The face seems to always be a target- I think because its what our kids associate with us. They see the face more than the full body- it displays our reactions and emotions.

The screaming phase is a necessary evil. It builds up their vocal chords and diaphragm. Its a sign that they will start talking more soon or be able to make new sounds.

Just keep being persistent in your gentle approach. It takes time for kids to learn, but it has a huge payoff. Unless the hit was absolutely deliberate, I ignore the behavior- I make exceptions because DD is frustrated (hungry, tired, overstimulated, etc). Imagine how you would feel if you could not express what you want to say- you want to be able to babble on in sentences but you're not able to. A little sympathy and understanding goes a long, long way.

I find she hits for three reasons.

1. She hits when she's bored. If she's not doing something entertaining, or if what she was doing ten seconds ago suddenly loses it's charm, she will smack.

2. Because we take her hand and show her gentle after she hits, I find she is hitting because she WANTS me to rub her face and hair. The thing is, she often walks over and rests her head on my leg and I stroke her hair and cheeks. Same result, I don't know why she hits to get it now too.

3. She hits when something doesn't go her way. She hits another kid if they have a toy she wants. She hits you if you pick her up and she didn't want it. She lashes out if her supper is something she's not in the mood for! The thing with that is, without her talking yet(she knows about 5 words but none of them help) I can't guess what will make her upset.

Her cousins are all 2 and 3 roughly and they don't even want to play with their one year old cousin anymore. The one called her the beast the other day! And friends and family don't like holding her because she just smacks and smacks. I try to keep telling myself it's a phase but these adults look like they have never encountered it before. I'm a little stressed out about it.

Try teaching her to utter grunts instead of hit. My son does "grrrrrr" when he's angry. Does it fairly often for minor things like me walking over to other room for a minute whereas he wanted me to fetch some toy for him. But he only hits out of affection - when he's real happy with me he hugs me and then hits out of joy. I'm really trying to break that :) and teach him to hug and kiss instead.

Every time she hits try saying sternly "no" and grabbing her hands. Don't do gentle - if she's angry and bored she's in no mood to be gentle with you because she wants to voice her frustration. Instead show her "grrrr" sound and perhaps clapping and feet stomping (another thing my son does when impatient or bored). These should help her get feelings out without hurting anyone.