u/lady-earendil

My 7 month old loves to hold onto my hair to self soothe but he often pulls on it quite hard and it's painful. When he does that I have to pry his hands open to get him to let go and usually say something like "ow, that hurts Mama, let go please" in a gentle/neutral tone, but sometimes if he yanks really hard or I'm already overstimulated I end up yelping in pain rather than calmly communicating. Is he even able to understand that he's hurting me yet? Is it better to keep my tone calm or is it okay to convey that I'm in pain? I don't want to frighten him but sometimes it really hurts lol