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Bite Me…
By Mommie | August 3, 2008
My son got teeth pretty much on time. When he did, he started biting. He bit me even when I was breastfeeding, ya, that was no fun! Now that he’s older, he’s still biting, just WAY harder. So how do you stop a biting toddler?
Well, to start off, don’t bite back. I tried this, he seriously laughed at me and then proceeded to bite me again. All biting your child does is tell them it’s ok to bite, which of course it’s not. It’s kinda like hitting your child to show them how they shouldn’t hit.
After speaking to my pediatrician, and combing the internet like a good surfer, here’s some tips:
- Use a very firm voice to say no. I use my “crazy mom” voice, it usually makes him cry, but it gets his attention enough to stop the behavior.
- If they are old enough for time out, then they need a time out to let them know the behavior isn’t good.
- If you can predict when you might be bitten then you can decrease the opportunity for biting. My son likes to give kisses that turn into bites, so we just keep our kisses shorter and watch him to make sure he doesn’t go for the jugular.
- The child might be teething, so give them a teething ring or cold blanket if that might be the culprit.
It takes time, so be patient with any method you use. The stern voice seemed to work the best, as his biting has decreased considerably. Good luck!
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August 5th, 2008 at 10:49 am
HOLY MOLY at the change!!! Looks great though.
As for biting children………i never found anything effective than time outs. I know parents who have actually bitten their kids back but i don’t subscribe to that theory. I know my sister has had to spank her son for it. But he’s 5 and he literally goes for blood. We all bear the scars lol and the other kids do too. So normally i wouldn’t go for that but lord knows nothing else was working and he seems to have stopped most of it so far. Little turkey just about had all the other kids in the family in fear of him over it. So it was causing more problems than just pain, it was keeping him from social things too.
August 5th, 2008 at 11:57 am
I like the change.
August 5th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
I was very fortunate as neither of mine used their teeth for anything other than eating … but have you ever tried waiting until he’s calm, sitting down with him and firstly ask him why he did it and then ask him would he like someone to bite him … and lastly tell him that he hurt you. I found that explaining actions and why my children shouldn’t do certain things and the consequences of their actions if they did do certain things prevented a lot of problems.
When my daughter was about three years old she once said to me ‘how do I know if something is wrong or right unless you tell me’ - for a young child to say that to their mother was a big shock to me but a valuable lesson. From that point onwards I went out of my way to tell both my children they mustn’t do this or that BECAUSE … and then in the future if they did something that I had told them not to I would ask them ‘why shouldn’t you do that?’ This would then refresh their memories.
I don’t know if this will help you - I hope that you give it a try and I hope that it is successful for you as well.