Is your DC a biter?

Daniel's Mama

DS bites. While nursing- probably once a week but he will bite my arm, shoulder, hand, knee... whatever is nearby... almost daily. He doesn't bite anyone but me. 

I am not sure how to handle this. I usually just say "Ow, no biting" and leave him with DH for a few minutes while I leave the room. He usually gets pretty upset when I leave.

It is tough because the arm bites are leaving bruises on my arm and they really hurt. I am not quite sure how to reinforce that this is not kind behavior at this age. His pediatrician told me that I need to put him in a crib (we got rid of the crib, as it was never used) or something of that nature and leave him in the room to cry, which I am not comfortable with, obviously. She more or less said, "Well, that or deal with the biting".

Anyone else been through this? What did you do?

snowinlv

Cora does the same thing. She only bites me. Anytime there is skin exposed she goes in for a chomp. I tell her ouch but that just makes her laugh. I have lately been putting her down or moving away from her to show her that I am upset with her hurting me. I'm not sure if that's a good way to handle it. It's not really working, though, since she continues to bite me. Fortunately for me, too, she rarely bites while nursing. I'm interested to see if anyone else has any good suggestions!

FutureGosnell

Not sure if this will help, but our daycare teaches the babies sign language. They claim it cuts down on the rate of biting, because children often bite when trying to communicate something they want or need, and this gives them another way of communicating.

MissyOlivePants

DD also did a lot of biting around that age. It just took a lot of redirection.

847Christine

What a pathetic response from your pedi. 

DD bites too, not aggressively per se, more out of pain from teething (I think?).  I pull her away from my breast or whatever else she's biting & say it hurts me.  If DH is here, I send her to be w/him for a minute.  I would never make her CIO as punishment either.  So if she does it again soon after the first round I usually give her a teether, cold washcloth, etc. b/c I assume she needs the sensory input in her mouth.  When she has more teeth I'll probably get a motorized toothbrush.  That's what I've used w/the older kids I've worked with (most have autism) & it seems to help if it's a sensory issue.

HTH!

ncbelle

Kiddo has just started doing this - glad I'm not alone!  He's only gotten me good while nursing once fortunately.  Today he was crazy trying to gnaw on my shoulder, knee, arm, etc.  I think it's his teeth though since right before his bottom ones broke through he was gumming me a lot while nursing.

So far I've just been giving him something else to chew on when it happens.  When he nipped me while nursing, I "closed up shop" for a while and gave him something else to chew on.

Sucks that your pedi had that response :-(