Toddler Biting

My son did the same thing and it didn't last too long. I would keep doing what you are doing telling him in a stern voice "no bite", but you could also try ignoring him for a minute and not giving him attention after he bites. Even if he is too young to sit still in a time out location you can still give him a time out just in a different way. By not paying attention to him when he does something that is not acceptable to you is like putting him in time out. My son is very stong willed and anytime I tell him "No" he challenges me more. He would keep biting if I told him "No", so instead of saying anything, I would immediately get up and leave the room and put up the baby gate so he could run after me, and ignore him for a minute. It didn't take him long to realize that if he bit me I would not give him attention, which is what he was after anyway. I wouldn't bite you son back, because he may think it is acceptable to bite because you do it too. Good luck.

Hi A.! My 1 year old was doing this too. What worked for me was putting my thumb under her chin, and my index finger tapping on her lips - while making eye contact, and a firm, NO This hurts Mommy. It took 2 days and it stopped. She's not doing it to be cruel {just remember that} :] Take care XO

my son just turned 1 in may, he started biting at 11mos, I lightly popped the back of his hand and said NO, bite, bite, believe it or not each time he acted like he was going to bite i said no bite bite or I will pop, pop!!! lol when he turned 1 I have not notice him biting anything except for toys and food.. lol hope this helps...

p.s each child is different and develops differently, my 1 year old is very intelligent and knows how to put his pampers in the trash and brush his teeth with supervision of course: he has been walking since he was 9 and half.... so with that in mind i probably can discipline my child different then what other parent would discipline theirs! just depends on how well your child knowledge is!!!

I am having the same trouble with my 9mo old son. He bites me constantly. I have welts on my face, shoulders and neck. It really looks like my husband and I get busy...
I know he's only 9mo, but he started when I was nursing him.. We lasted 6 months and then I couldn't take him biting me anymore. Now I think he bites me for comfort. I tell him no and hook my thumb around his teeth and jaw. Then he just smiles at me like haha I got your attention. I really don't know what else to do.. I can't put a 9mo old in time out - but I guess I could space him away from me so he knows its not alright. He does definately like my responses to his biting so I know it is an attention thing. I do find that he bites more at night or when he's tired and clingy.

He doesn't bite his father but he does bite my mom, his grandmother. Maybe its something with females he's familiar with. I haven't heard that he bites his daycare teachers yet.

I would just say no without making a huge deal about it. Biting back isn't the answer as far as I'm concerned. Same with hitting solving the problem of hitting. You can't teach them not to, if you're going to. It might be for attention, but it could be teeth coming in. My daughter always tries to bite more when she's getting a new tooth.

Its a faze, some kids do it and some kids don't. Keep sternly telling him "No biting", but biting him back won't work. When they are that young, they don't understand the concept of "do un to others ect". I would suggest to keep doing what your doing....he'll eventually stop on his own. I had a friend whose child bit mine daughter on the face, it was pretty bad. I would be concerned about him around other children - keep a close watch until he is over it.

Hi i personally dont believe in the biting back method. You just have to correct him every time he does it. And he actually is old enough for time out. give him 1 minute in time out and tell him he is there for biting. He will not like being made to sit and he will grow out of it. I have had many children in my care as i have been a daycare provider forever and i have 4 of my own. Its a stage some of them go through and others dont. Just be patient and consistent.

Consistency is the key! My middle one went through 3 rounds of the biting phase. I don't think the biting back thing does anything but teach your child that it is okay to bite kwim? Everytime with DJ when he would bite I would sternly tell him no and if I was holding him I'd put him down. He was upset about it but so was I having been bitten. Then he started biting his brother. We made him apologize and all of that and told him no biting and it really didn't seem to work. The last time he started biting we did do the timeout thing (he was 15 months). It seemed to nip it in the butt faster. I'm not sure if it had anything to do with the timeouts or the fact that it was our 3rd round of biting but it hasn't been back since. Just a note about the timeout thing though. I had to sit there with him. He would constantly try to get up and leave but each time I sat with him and put him back. He didn't like it but he got the concept of the timeout pretty quickly.

Good luck! Hope the biting subsides.

Hi,
My daughter started this at 10 months, stopped, then started again. it seems that she normally does this either a) because she is cutting a tooth, or b) just to get a rise out of me. I got a slew of advice in here, and I found that alternating a VERY stern NO with actually ignoring the behavior worked well. With the first bite , I loudly (loud enough to reset her, not scare her) sayu NO or NO BITE MOMMY, and I tell her that it hurts. Then she'll do it again later, and I ignore it. By the end of the day, she has stopped. She started it at the cut of every tooth. With the first few I didn't know what to do. This best for me. Good luck to you!

i am a day care teacher with 13 to 25 month olds, and see this and work with it everyday of my life... i know, im crazy! we always ask, is it out of anger or frustration or just maybe pain from teeth? if its pain from teeth, it is just a phase, just ignore or use the stern no. if its out of anger, you dont want it to become a habit. we have soft play food, like stuffed, that we use for this occasion. we say to the child in a stern voice " biting hurts...your teeth are for food... show me food.." we walk the child to the play food and encourage biting the food. i know that this is encouraging biting stuffed animals, or that this is not really food, but it really works. if they just need something to get their anger out, i would rather redirect it to something they can bite, if they really must. i have seen kids your childs age get frustrated and go and find that special banana and really get mad at it and bite it... this is a normal act for this age, and it does pass when they can use words and realize how to control their feelings, but until then you need to help them find something appropriate to do with their feelings. trust me, you dont want a 2 or 3 three year old that resorts to biting when angry!sorry so long and late, but hope i can help!

Hi A.,

My son did the same thing. I felt the more I drew attention to it, the more he bit me. I just ignored it and the problem went away. I find that with most of my son's bad habits. If I don't pay attention to them, it's not worth his effort. Your son is only 13 months and probably not doing it to hurt you, but rather see how you are going to react.

Good luck!
Deb

Hi A.,

My heart goes out to you! My now 15 year old had the same problem. By age 2 it got so bad we took her to a psychologist. She was mostly biting to defend herself or her toy, but it did start while she was nursing. I was doing what you are doing plus removihg her from the incident, but somewhere very close, so she didn't forget what was going on. A corner or stairstep work great. A 1 minute timeout per year of age is the rule. I stood directly in front of her and as soon as she started to move, I told her "no, time out". I also made a big fuss over the victim in front of her and taught her to say I'm sorry.

The psychologist loved all of that but added 2 things. Gently take the child by the jaw and turn their head to look at you as you say no biting. You are now adding touch, sound and sight to the correction in a sane, safe and controled manner. Don't bite back. Next thing was a star (reward) chart. She got a star if she made it to lunch with out biting, and one for dinner and bedtime if no incidences ocured. Post the chart on the fridg and give a treat or reward at the end of the day and week if there have been no incidences. I struggled for 2 years with the biting and after adding these suggestions it improved drastically with in a few weeks. There still were occasional occurences, but what a difference.

Good luck.
C.