12 Month Old Not Responding to "No"

From a mother of 3, none of whom responded to the word no until much later than 12 mos... You just need plain old persistence. There really is no true "discipline" that works at this age besides redirect and repeat. I know it is tiresome, but one day he will be old enough for consequences and it will get more manageable. Until then, do what you need to to make his environment as safe as possible. Try a pack and play for when you absolutely can't take it any more. He may realize that he doesn't get attention when he doesn't listen. Good Luck!

When my daughter was going through that stage, we found we had to be specific with the word "No." If she was pulling all the dvds off the shelf, we would remove her from the area and tell her "No touch!" Then we'd give her something that she could play with.

Same thing with climbing on the couch, ripping pages out of books, or eating some odd thing she found on the floor. We'd either take away whatever she was shredding, or remove her from what she was getting into and tell her "No climb! No eat!" or whatever was appropriate.

Since she really didn't understand the word "No" to start out with, it was mostly the removing her or the object that started to have the biggest impact on her behavior.

After a while, she began to connect the undesirable behavior with the word "No" and would usually respond appropriately. Though from time to time we'd still have to take something away or take her off the back of the couch.

Something that has been a help for us, is to save the "no" for something that is really serious....something that could be life threating..for everything else we use "don't touch" or "uh-ohs" that way when you really do mean "NO" then they will listen....or so the theory goes.
J.

Hand slaps and "Leave it!". The idea of putting them in a crib or playpen (sort of like the pre-cursor to a time out) is a great idea too. Ignore screaming- he's not going to like being disciplined.

Try another word with a harsher tone like STOP!!!! I would put him in a playpen if he goes back again to the spot and say VERY DANGEROUS!!! He needs to learn when you are telling him something due to a safety issue vs just saying no. With my daughter "no touch" worked for her but my son was like yours and a lot more apt to ignore me and head out for an adventure. I would just say it once, then if he did it again I would put him in his playpen in the living room for a while and give him a toy to play with there. even putting him in a high chair with some cups when he does this to distract him and totally keep him away from that spot. It does change and he will start understanding, my son still does some pretty active crazy things but the climbing, jumping off of things and so on finally stopped after a few years of STOP!!! It took me using a time out or harsh tone....good luck.

Redirect him! Get him interested in something "safe" (which to him probably means "not fun"). Whenever you find him going for the dangerous stuff, pull something new out of the toybox that he hasn't seen in while, or take him to look out the window, or to get a snack, or pet the dog, etc. My son is 19 months, and is VERY active and into EVERYTHING. We just bought a baby lock for the fridge because he was "pouring" his own milk! He gets into everything that isn't nailed down. I think some kids are just like that. It's a pain, but it can't last forever (can it?!?!). I sometimes wonder if my son will be the next MacGuyver...anyway, all day long I am redirecting him. It is a full time job!