Really need advice from experienced moms

Hi all. I don’t often post but I’m really hoping some mommas can give me some advice. How do you cope when your baby is throwing a tantrum and he hurts you?

I’m a pretty small woman. I’m 5’2” and on the thinner side. My son is 7 months old, but to say he’s a big boy is an understatement lol. He’s in the 96th percentile for height and weight- he’s just huge! Everyone, including his doctors, comment on how big he is! Not in a bad way- he’s perfectly healthy- but just because he’s such a big boy and I’m such a small woman. He’s already half my size!

He’s a wonderful baby and generally really happy, but when he’s super upset and crying, he flails his arms and hits me in the face. Or he’ll arch his back and launch himself backwards, slamming himself into my chest or arm or face, etc. I don’t think what he’s doing is anything outside of normal baby behavior, but he really hurts me sometimes!

Of course, he’s just a young baby, so I know he doesn’t mean to hurt me. And he’s obviously not doing any of this behavior maliciously. But that doesn’t change the fact that it hurts like hell!

Any advice? Has anyone else dealt with this problem before? Just now I was trying to rock him to sleep for his nap and he got upset, and he repeatedly whacked me in the face with his flailing arms. It’s very frustrating and painful. Do I try to hold his arms down? Move out of the way? Set him down and walk off?