Oh Dear... Best Way to Get My 13 Month Old to STOP Biting..?

Updated on April 08, 2010
S.V. asks from Plano, TX
6 answers

So.. my son is teething, has 2 top and 2 bottom teeth. Over the last couple of days he has been playfully biting me, and I have done different techniques, but am concerned about which is best.

I've done:

1. Spanked him
2. Told him sternly No, and redirected his attention
3. Ouch son! That hurts Mommy! No bite.

Ive been told to bite him back, I think that is hypocritical because here I am telling my son stop biting and then I go and bite him back.

I am a strong believer in "Spare the rod, spoil the child" So yes, I side with disciplining!

Thanks Mommas!

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More Answers

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J.D.

answers from Dallas on

Two minute time outs in my daughter's bed always worked for me. You just have to be consistent. If you do different things at different times, they don't get the connection to the action.

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S.H.

answers from Dallas on

My doc told me to do this stuff and it worked! When my daughter bit me, I told her sternly not to bite and put her down for one minute. When she bit other kids, I'd sternly tell her no bite and then love on the other kid. She got the picture quickly! I think the negative reinforcement (I don't get mom's love if I do ____) really works where telling her no over and over felt as if I was just wasting my breathe. Good luck!

Oh! And Hyland teething tabs seemed to help also. :)

D.B.

answers from Dallas on

I second the "put him down and don't give him any attention directly after he bites" Once he learns he gets no attention he will discover that good attention is preferable to no attention.
I also want to say for the times when you will not be able to put him down like when you are in a public place hold him facing out so he cannot put his jaws on you.

D.

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J.O.

answers from Dallas on

Redirect him to what is appropriate to bite. "We use our teeth for eating not for biting Mom" or something similar. Tell him what he can use his teeth for and stay consistent. He will get it eventually -- right now those are cool new tools that he's getting to try out.

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T.T.

answers from Dallas on

We had this problem with our son. Whenever he would bite we would tell him "no bite" and put him down or breifly separate him from us in some way (time out, etc). He got the picture that I wouldn't play with him when he bit and got the idea.

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M.Q.

answers from Dallas on

My daughter would bite too and I did do the bite thing back. Not hard. I used the don't do others what you don't want done to you. It worked for me and only took a couple bites! Good luck.

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