Biting 18 Month Old

I agree with Patricia, my son is almost 20 months old and he had started biting as of recent. He decided to bite my foot when we were all laying down watching a movie and I sat up and bit him back. I talked to him while he was crying and told him that's what it feels like when he bites other people. We had one more incident where I repeated the same thing, and we haven't had any incident of him biting people anymore. He does like to bite the couch though. It has a lot to do with more teeth coming in.

I did what you did, as I have an 18 month old. Okay - this is what I did - he likes to bite me when were taking a bath, so I did what I read and when he bites I say "No, bad that hurts Mommy" then I take him out of the tub and put him across the room from me and I go back in the tub. I made him sit on the floor away from me, then after a couple minutes (hes crying and wants to get back in the tub) I get him, make him say hes sorry and give mommy a kiss. I had to do it several times, but he hasnt done it since. My neighbor tried this and it didnt work, so she was advised by someone else that a slight pinch on the back of the hand works and she said she pinched her daughter a few times on the back of the hand and said "HURTS!" and her daughter hasnt bit her since. Hope this helps - every kid is different, so maybe one of these tactics will help!

Hey M.,

Great advice from the other moms. My daughter is 17 months old and bites occasionally. If I am able to catch her in time, I will hold her cheecks in my fingers and say, "No biting, that hurts mommy." I then don't feed into the behavior anymore and continue whatever was going on because even negative attention is attention.

I am just wondering if there are any triggers for the biting? Does he do it at certain times (hungry, tired, frustrated)?

Hang in there! This too shall pass!! :)

K.

He probably wants your attention and biting gets it. Even anger-attention is better than no attention to them.
If there is a negative consequence immediately when he does it he will be trained not to do it. Maybe being immediately put into a playpen away from you and ignored for a few minutes would be a negative consequence.

hang in there, mama!
the only thing I would say
to add to what you are doing (good job, by the way!):
after you say "NO!!"
I would say, "NO! that HURTS mama!
NO B-I-T-I-N-G!!" (that's me trying to show saying it very clearly)
then, I put him down somewhere safe & walk away
this is not a time-out, it's 'social isolation'
you show you don't want to be with him when he's doing this

you also then make a BIG DEAL when he does something you like :)

I did'n bother to read any one elses respond, so,,,,,,,,,,, I don't know what they said. I had a son that bit. I caught him one day right after he had bit me, i grabbed his little finger bit it and said ouch, from that day to this one, no more bitting. Oh yes it sounds cruel, but it worked.
P.

Hello M.,
I have a 27 month old boy, thank god he didn't get into this habit, but I talked to the owner of my day care because he did it 1 time there. She told me she had a really big problem with one of the children there & a therapist advised her that every time the child bites you get a little bit of Listerine (the yellow one that teast bad) & put it in their mouth. It will not harm them, just they don't like the teast, & every time they bite you put some in there mouth. She said it worked great. She was to the point that she was going to have to tell the parent that she couldn't bring the baby to day care any more because the child would bite all the teachers & kids. This was here last resort & in worked. Good Luck & take the Listerine every where you go so no matter where you are & he bites you can do this.

It is an attention getting activity.......more attention from you should help.......also maybe someone is doing it to him?
I wouldn't recommend doing it back to him because his synapses
haven't connected yet for him to understand.
Plus, he might be frustrated with not spending time with you (more attention).......hang in there and keep saying "no, that hurts mommy"......also, maybe show him "gentle" rubbing hands and "funny faces" get your attention better and longer

Have you tried two minute time outs everytime something like that happenes? with my daughter she went thru the hitting phase where she would slap a person usually my sister or cousin and run away. i found that for every years that she is she gets 2 mins. she 4 now and at this point she hates time out and since its 8 mins she rarely does things that make me resort to time outs.

I had to take my daughter out of playgroups because she was at random pushing kids down. She is now 2 1/2 and is starting to use words. It's a stage, she bit too, and it normally is about getting cornered. I would just keep an eye out for signs of agitation. Then if it does happen, you take him aside and tell him no. Look at each situation differently. It won't be long until you have yet another sign of the terrible twos. I was reading "The Happiest Toddler on the Block", and apparently the terrible two's can start as early as 12 months. YEA! I can't remember what it says about your child's age, but I has to be similar. They say to repeat what they are saying but add no to it and distraction next. At the daycare they need to make a better effort to curve situations that can cause this to happen. They forget that you expect them to take care of your child as an individual. Yes it isn't fair to the other kids, but (and I fully believe this) if you keep putting a kid who bites in the same situation the outcome is going to be the same. So ask them to watch for warning signs. If it about a toy, then they need to teach the kids about sharing, if it is about pushing or pulling, they need to watch the other kids. I used to work in a daycare, so I know these things happen. We just watched the kid better and it became not an issue when she got the message of no biting. Take care, and good luck! Jen