If you have a biter...get in here

hav2run

Holy crap.  I am not exaggerating when I say DD has some biting issues.  She only bites at me right now.  I know at her age, DH is her hero.  I know that.  I have been bitten several times this weekend when I played the villain and mad at her behavior. She hates being told "no", but oh well, get over it girlfriend.  I got bit.  It hurts.  WDYD?  I scolded...she screamed like someone was torturing her.  Seriously.  I need to stop the silly crap.  Give me all the stops to pull out and spare no thoughts.

sistrkate

I wish I had some good suggestions for you.  Justin was a biter, but his biting seemed to occur more out of frustration at his inability to communicate than anything else.  He never really bit to retaliate or to be aggressive.

Everything I've read about biting says that you have to immediately remove the child from the situation and tell them very firmly, "NO".  Seems so easy, but it never worked for us!  You could try timeout, it timeout works well for you in other situations.  And of course, the other advice I was given by the old school thinkers was, "bite him back".   I never wanted to resort to that, but I did try it when nothing else worked, and it did NOT work for us either.  We just had to live through it.  Once he was able to talk more easily, the biting resolved itself.

Good luck.   It's a tough one to solve.

MrsMoher

We tried everything, just like pp.  Eli was horrible.  We tried time outs, but that didn't work, he'd get up out of time out and bite us again.  We did eventually resort to biting him back too, only it did work for us... sort of.  He stopped biting us, because we bit back, but he kept biting the kids at daycare.  Finally they had to move him up to the older toddler room (so he was the youngest by 3 or so months) and then he was intimidated by the older kids and finally stopped biting.  It took several months (like 6ish) for it to finally stop.  It was horendous.  And if I am honest, he still bites DH & I from time to time (not the kids from day care thank goodness), but I think he's playing and doesn't quite understand that it hurts.

sistrkate

MrsMoher:

It took several months (like 6ish) for it to finally stop.  It was horendous.  And if I am honest, he still bites DH & I from time to time (not the kids from day care thank goodness), but I think he's playing and doesn't quite understand that it hurts.

It took Justin a long time to stop it, too.  We started dealing with issues at daycare in December 2008 and he didn't stop biting until at least June the next year.

And yes, he still bites occasionally.  He has bitten Tyler, I think to get some attention.  He definitely gets attention for that.

vbmeg

Sam is a biter but right now it is just because of teething but MAN it hurts!!! I swear mommy is his teether of choice! He also likes his sister's toes if he can get to them:-)  He has made a mess out of his crib gnawing on the rail (gma is making a cover as we speak). Ryan NEVER bit as much as he does and she never chewed on her crib so this is all new to us. I'm *hoping* this is just a teething phase and he won't be a biting toddler. If he is, I will be coming back to you all for advice!!

hav2run

You could really read my frustration in that post.  I am so hoping this is a short lived phase.  I have some mommy guilt because I work so much, and it seems I am the one she does the biting on.  But I did see her biting herself and the sofa when DH told her no about something.  She argues back, saying "yes" when we say no.  We just ignore it and redirect her.  But this getting frustrated and biting is a problem.  Time to read 123 Magic, HTOTB, and whatever else I have around here.  Looks like it is time for some serious toddler training.