16 month old and hitting

To be honest I think its normal, he might start doing when he gets upset as well. For some reason thats just a way of them expressing themselves. I asked my daughters pediatrician and it was normal and it usually starts at 12 up to 3 years of age, now if he is 5 hitting himself then maybe questions should be asked. As far as correcting just keep talking to him, be assertive, and repeat yourself constantly, make sure you look at him in the eye. But to be honest there isn't much you can do when they are that small.

I'm not sure time-out will do much good when your son is so young. I've noticed that at the daycare center where my daughter goes to preschool, the teachers will gently grasp the wrists of the younger kids when they hit, just firmly enough to stop them from moving, and say, "Nice hands. Gentle hands. We don't hit." It seems to work, at least for the moment, but it probably has to be repeated many, many times.

Yeah it's less of a behavioral issue at 16 month's, if he was 3 or 4 that would be different, I would just address it with a firm tone " NO, we don't do that" each time he does it, you will be surprised how he will catch onto it, then just redirect him. While they do understand much more than we think at that age, they don't comprehend concepts like time out so they are less effective for that age group

I agree with the preschool handling of it.
My grand daughter is no 20 months and at about that age she would hit instead of pet my one dog the other would make herself scarce. I was very firm and stopped her hands and put my hands between her and the dog and just said nice beau, good Beau. Gentle, soft hands. If the dog got too playful and licked her more than was wanted I told him the same. No Beau gentle. At 18 months we rarely had to correct her and a 20 months, with 5 days in constant contact with the dog I did not have to correct once even when she was really tired.

Now we get to handle biting. She bites her mother on occassion but funny thing she put her mouth on me once and I made it clear that was not acceptable. I don't have problems but momma say oh that hurt in that syruppy voice somepeople get when they are imparting a lesson to a small child. lol Oh well.

When dd was that age and tried out hitting DH or I would scoop her up and say "No. We don't hit, we hug," and give her a big hug." Sounds corny, I know, but it really worked for us.