I'm happy to see that there are some lovely comments with some great advice in this thread!
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Wow, I can't believe how horrible the replies are!
I have Asperger's and am also mother to a probably autistic toddler. He is much younger than your little girl but also hits.
Is she getting support from a specialist service that can offer you advice? Keep your sentences short, a couple of key words if understanding is believed to be a difficulty. Does she have sensory needs that need to be met? Such as needing to move a lot of bite things? My son has always loved the feeling of pinching things so I've tried things like flour in a empty balloon to replace pinching me.
Does she use makaton? Pecs? Any other way to help communicate? Makaton has worked well in our family.
You need to keep your baby safe so use a cusion to protect your belly, and simply say no hitting and move away. Give little attention to unwanted behaviour.
If you can see it escalating try and distract with another activity before it really starts.
