1 Year Old Son Is BITING Really Badly Best Way to Stop It?

Time outs... I think someone already suggested this, and i saw a little one doing the same thing on supernanny and she said the same thing. If you are going to bite, you cant be with us, and remove him to another area for 1 min every time. He will get the idea eventually, but since hes probly biting because hes teething, and not to be mean, he may stop on his own or not stop at all until hes done teething :)

My daughter did this too. I am probably not a good mom for doing it. But when she bit me and drew blood and left a briuse I bit her back. Not too hard I didn't leave a mark or anything and she never did it again after that. She needed to understand that it hurts to be bitten.

Some kids are biters. It is a phase and he will grow out of it. In the meantime, you just tell him 'no biting' and then distract him with something he can do. I find the common advice to 'bite him back' nonsensical. Pretty much teaches them that biting is ok (after all mommy does it) and that big people can bite little people. Good luck, it is frustrating. I would not leave him alone with the pets, it only takes a second for a dog or cat to scratch or bite his face.

PLEASE do not bite him back! What a nineteenth-century idea. That only teaches him that it's OK to bite -- the same way that hitting a child "back" only teaches the child that hitting is OK because mom does it, so why shouldn't he?

He is only one, and even if you did bite him back, he is not yet capable of connecting that "discipline" (which it really isn't) with his own actions. He is not yet able to reason that "If I bite, I will get bitten and it will hurt; therefore I won't bite." So it's useless to do, even if you did decide to try it.

His age is also the reason that time outs will not work. I'm surprised anyone recommended them for a child this young. Again, he is too young to connect his behavior with your giving him the time out. If he were, say, two and a half to three, then he could make that connection, but at only one year old, he simply does not have any concept of what a time out is supposed to teach: "I did X, and Y happened. I don't like Y. If I do X again, then Y might happen again. I'd better not do X." He's not there yet.

Please go for a more age-appropriate and stage-appropriate reaction: Distract and remove!

Distract him with constant offers -- I mean CONSTANT since he is such an extreme biter -- of appropriate things to bite and chew. Those "million teeth toys" you mention are great but a bunch of them need to be in your hand (and dad's hand, and babysitter's hand, and grandparents' hands) at all times and you will need to be right on top of him at all times during this stage. Don't expect him to reach for them or show interest -- you'll probably have to shove them right into his chomping little mouth! It's a pain and difficult but it's just a time for constant supervision and securing him in safe places. If he has any kind of area where he can be corraled and is relatively happy with toys or other activities there, use that, but otherwise it's 100 percent supervision for a while so he cannot come up behind anyone as he's doing now. As for remove: Remove him from wherever he's too close to anyone else, since it seems that right now any proximity to humans or animals means a bite.

I know you're trying to keep him away from the animals but it's worrying that he particularly gets at them when they are eating. The dog may have taken it patiently so far and may be the sweetest dog in the world -- but it's still a dog, and they do not like to be disturbed when eating; if something comes up behind them as they are eating, they feel vulnerable and may instantly defend their food, even if they have not been doing so previously. It would only take one time for the dog suddenly to heed that instinct and turn on your son if your son comes up behind the dog while the dog is feeding. One incident would be enough to injure your son, perhaps even severely, and again, even the nicest dogs can turn if they are surprised and just not ready to take it. Please find a place to feed the dog that your son absolutely cannot access.

Six teeth at one year old sound like a lot to me, at least compared to my daughter, so he is in some fierce teething so I pity him!

geez already just bite him back, no one else should have to endure his bad habit

I had a story very similar to yours...after asking all the ladies at my work and my mom...I was told by almost everyone to "bite him back and make it hurt" I hated to do it, but did. I only had to do this twice and he totally stopped biting. Good luck.

You say, "No!" Not loudly, but firmly. Then you put him in his highchair, a crib, a pack 'n' play, something that contains him, for one minute. Then when you take him out you say, "No biting (sissy, daddy, doggy - whatever he bit)." Then you offer him something that he CAN bite as an alternative and say, "Bite this." Sometimes it helps if they are frozen and cold. A wet washrag put in the freezer for 5 or 10 minutes is also a good option because it is cold and wet and textured.

Hope this helps.

So I asked this question two weeks or so ago and my daughter was biting it started to come and go after a week of solid biting no matter what we did/offered. She as well has had 6 teeth since about 7.5months hold. Well low and behold a few days ago I noticed her bottom molar coming in on her left side and then yesterday we noticed her right coming in. She wasn't fussy when she started her biting at all so I figured firm NO and a few times she just kept going at us like a little piranha we put her into her pack in play that we set up in our bed room so she had a little time out. Good luck and this will pass.

I know not everyone agrees with it but I side with Jackie on this one. I would bite him back (obviously not like he bites you) - meaning dont leave marks and/or draw blood but you need to show him that what he is doing really does hurt. I also think that he is doing it out of frusteration that the teeth coming in are hurting so I would try to offer cold and soothing alternatives before he gets to the point of chowing down on the cat and everything else in site
Good Luck

1. Remain calm. Do not react with anger.
2. You need to determine why the child is biting. Is the child teething? Is s/he trying to learn about his/her world through oral exploration (putting things in his/her mouth and learning how they taste, feel, etc.)? Is the child biting to gain control or in self-defense? Is s/he stressed, anxious, frustrated, angry, or excited? Is s/he engaging in attention-seeking behavior?
3. Once you know the reason that the child is biting, you need to respond appropriately.
A. If the child is teething, you should provide him/her with suitable things on which s/he can chew.
B. If the child is trying to learn about his/her world through oral exploration, tell the child that biting is not appropriate behavior. Explain to the child that biting hurts and is not nice. Provide the child with alternate means to learn about whatever s/he was biting.
C. If the child is trying to gain control or is acting in self-defense, tell the child that biting is not appropriate behavior. Explain to the child that biting hurts and is not nice. Then, determine why the child feels like s/he lacks control or feels threatened or attacked. Provide the child with alternate means to secure a measure of control over his/her circumstance or to communicate to you that s/he is feeling threatened or attacked.
D. If the child is stressed, anxious, frustrated, angry, or excited, tell the child that biting is not appropriate behavior. Explain to the child that biting hurts and is not nice. Then, discuss the child’s feelings and provide the child with alternate means to express his/her feelings.
E. If the child is engaging in attention-seeking behaviors, tell the child that biting is not appropriate behavior. Explain to the child that biting hurts and is not nice. Provide the child with alternate means to let you know when s/he would like attention from you. Then, provide the child with the attention s/he seeks.
4. Watch the child to see if there is recurrence of the biting behavior. Praise the child when s/he confronts a situation in which s/he would have bitten (based on past conduct) but did not bite. Redirect the child’s behavior if biting recurs. You will need to follow the child’s parents’ guidelines on redirection (ex., verbal redirection on first occurrence, a time out on second occurrence, and an immediate bedtime on third or successive occurrence).
5. When the parents return home, let them know of the child’s behaviors and how you responded.