Biting Toddler

Hi Ladies, after a few weeks of trying every suggested solution to Nathans Biting, I had enough of him hanging onto his little sister like a pitbull with lock jaw, so I bit him back and I bit him hard, probably not every moms first choice but after him screaming blue murder, he went for her again and I went for him again.

Now the biting is down to a minimum, he tries to bit her on the odd occasion but the severe bitting has stopped completly.

Every child is different and in most cases positive reinforcing probably works but I think sometimes they just hav eto acknowledge the pain to.

Thanks Mandy for the advise. my son is 18 months and he bites

Thanks for the advise Mandy B.

Im having the same problem with my son and biting!

Hi Mandy,

That seems like good advice, I will give it a try.

I sometimes undermine his intelligance, I sometimes think he doesnt understand what im telling him or my instructions, he knows very well he is doing wrong.

Thanks again, I will give it a try.

WIth my son being 3 now, I know how you feel. My son was a biter and it is the worst. What you dont want to hear is that until he can find other ways to communicate his anger, frustration or fear, or need for attention, he will bite. No one thing or one way you treat him will make him stop.. so this is what i eventually learnt to do..

1. Ignore him completely at the time and shower the victim with love and attention.
2. Dont talk about the biting in front of him, you have to make him think its not an issue to you. The more you react, the more he will feel he is getting what he wants out of the bite.
3. Sometimes if you have to say sorry for him to the other family etc, remove him put him in the corner and go and apologise and tell the family that you are trying to show him he gets no reaction but that you are truly sorry.
4. When you are at your busiest, or dont have time for him, he will do it the most
5. Most importantlly, try to teach him what to do instead with words or asking for help. ie, tell him I know you are angry when your sister takes your toys, but when she does, tell her stop taking my toys. or say, when your sister takes your toys, you can tell your nanny to help you get it back. tell her she is naughty but you dont bite otherwise you are naughty too, and i wont let you have your toy back etc

As soon as he has learned what else to do with that emotion, then the biting will stop, and only then! so it will last a lot longer if you react and shout and yell, and it will just heighten his emotion that he feels at the time and not solve the problem..

Good luck!

Hi Ladies,

I hope someone has some advise for me, Nathan (19 Mts) has started biting, it started with him biting my nanny, she didnt shun it away instead laughed at the matter and ran away in a playful manor, now he has started biting his sister (7 Mnt), she had seven bite marks last week.

I have done everything from Going down to his level and speaking to him in a serious tone, Shouting, taking him out of the situation, biting back, smacking, you name it. He doesnt bite me though.

I know its for attention but he gets so much attention from me alone, sister is the one who gets the least, so why is he doing this?

He also takes everything from her, regardless if he wants it or not, he has a jump-o-lene with 100 balls, if she takes one, he will grab it from her regardless of the 99 others around him, he throws a hissy fit when i refuse him to take it from her and throws him self to the floor.

I know the best practice is positive reinforcement but I dont know how to apply it, please bear in mind that I dont have a lot of time to practice it as both kids occupy me 25 hrs a day, my patients is also at a all time low at this stage.