How to Stop Biting?

I had biting problems with my oldest (now 17) and my youngest bites (21 months). My son got better when I switched him to a home day care. I decided that he was just too overwhelmed with the number of children there. We tried everything with him. He only bit at day care, though, never at home. My daughter is not in day care, but she will bite at church when other kids take something from her or if she just wants something someone else has and she also bites at home when she is either frustrated or overly excited. I don't have a lot of advise but it is a fairly common problem. Knowing what sets it off is a good beginning. With my son it seemed to be a reflexive thing, nothing in particular seemed to instigate it, while with my daughter we can see a pattern. She is not in day care, which is a good thing with her biting. Sometimes giving the child something...a pillow or soft toy...to bite on when he feels the urge to bite helps. Its really hard at this age since their communication skills are so minimal usually. My daughter still is not too verbal which is why i think she is still biting. I'm sorry if this wasn't much help, but it may help just to know that you arent alone in dealing with a "biter". The advise telling them to explain to him that it hurts is good, in theory, but it's hard when you don't know if the child even understands the word "hurt" at 13 months.

My son is also one and had a problem with biting. I talked to the doctor about it. He does not recommend time out for a child so young but he did give me some advice. If they bite you while you are holding them put them down and say "No no, we do not bite people because it hurts." Tell the daycare to tell him no when he looks like he is getting ready to bite someone and try to divert his attention to something else, like a toy or something. The doctor gave me a handout on biting but I do not think I have it anymore. You might be able to get more information from your doctor or online. Hope this helps.

Children at that age are still not as verbal as they would like. He may be frustrated because he wants a toy, or he may want something that he just can not verbalize. A great way to help this is to t4each him sign language. Most day cares already use signs, but can always be built upon, for hte sake of the children in their care. I would be happy to help you! You can vist my site at www.talktomebabync.com!

B.

My 2nd child was quite the biter at that age. My biggest advice is talking to your son about boundaries. Based on verbal he is can be dependent on why he is resorting to biting. Is there a commonality to this incidents-same child, fighting over the same toy with a classmate, tired, near meal time. This may help you redirect him before this behavior starts. We resorted to biting my daughter gently at home and that resolved her biting her favorite victom...her older sister. :) Good luck!

My daughter, who is now 22 months old also had a biting problem around the time she was 18 months old. She mostly bit other kids at daycare, but occasionally it happened at home. At daycare, they watched her closely, but did not separate her from other kids. She did it when she was frustrated or mad so they tried to stop it from happening if they saw a situation unfolding. Also, the director of our daycare gave us advice that when she bites at home, do not mention the word "bite" or "biting." She said to tell her what behaviors are appropriate like hugging and kissing. Use positive words not negative ones, etc...It took a few months, but now she does not bite. We're now working on not hitting people (sigh).

Do you use Babycenter.com? It has articles from experts and also advice from other parents. I know they'll have info on biting. You can also sign up for the pregnancy week by week emails.

Good luck!

Hi K.,

My son did the biting too! What worked for us was to put him in time out - since he is young - the recommendation is 1 minute per year of age, so for your son it would be just 1 minute. He needs to know that it is not a nice behavior and that it will have consequences! Consistency is the best policy - always!!! I hope it works for you!

Hi, I had the same problem at daycare just recently. Our daycare wont put them in timeout, so we had a teething ring handy just for him to bite. So whenever he would attempt to bite they would give that to him and tell him to bite that not people:) I know it's sooo fustrating because there is so little you can do about it. It takes alot of patience, but he FINALLY stopped. Hope it helps.