Advice on a Toddler Who Bites

My daughter did it when she was 3 or 4. I took a small bar of soap & rubbed a little bit on her bottom teeth. She never did it again.

Do you know the circumstances behind it? My 17 month old has bitten twice. Once when her sister took her popsicle away and one to a boy at the nursery that took her toy away. I have witnessed with her she bites when she is extremely frustrated and can't verbalize how upset she is. The good news is she just stopped biting. I think it was a phase. Good Luck!

I think this is pretty normal behavior at this age, they dont really have words to communicate, so some kids bite. My DD has the same issue (although it is getting better), I talked to her teacher about it and she said that a lot of kids act this way. My DD has also gotten bitten some at school, and while I hate it, I think it may have taught her a lesson. They are working with her and all of the kids about using words rather than actions when they are upset and we do this at home also. I know it is frustrating, but it will get better.

Hi D.,you can encourage him ot use his words. But that is how they express themselves at this point. Experts says it happens until they are 3 and it is considered normal. Based on my experience with 2 boys it will go way soon.

I was told to bite him back and it worked for me.

I was on both ends of the biting thing, my daughter was bitten a lot from one child, then I had my son and he was the bitter. It does stop on its own; I know it's horrible when there isn't really an answer. I've heard that biting them back does work, not really hard just a nip. I didn’t do this, but I have had friends that did. What I was told to do was after he bits, tell him we don’t bite people, but we can bit an apple, or cracker ect… or if his biting is due to frustration, tell him that what he is feeling is frustration and it’s okay to get frustrated, but it’s not okay to bite when frustrated, say “stop”. I did this to a small extent and he just stopped. I really think it was just a phase and not me telling him about the frustration thing. But let’s pretend that it was and I’m super mom :) Good Luck

He will eventually grow out of it. Some say to bite him back but you have a 50/50 chance of that working. I would grab my son and say very softly no be sweet that will hurt. Just be patient I doubt he will do this for too much longer. Have you made sure he isnt teething and in pain? He may need something to chew on instead of a friend!

For kids who don't have language this often is a way to communicate. My ASD son has been bitten so many times from preschool through his special needs class. Lucky for us, although he doesn't have much language (at almost 6) he hasn't bitten. Perhaps if you can give your child another way of communicating or teach him to say "no" rather than biting. It is a tough problem.

Unfortunately, someone is going to get permission from you to bite him back --- of course, not real hard, but just enough that he understands how it feels. My mother did that to one of my 4 brothers and it stopped immediately.

I've worked with biters for almost 8 years and it's tough for everyone envolved. PLEASE DO NOT BITE HIM OR TELL HIM TO BITE HIMSELF! There's nothing you can do to discipline him at home unless he bites at home. What are his teachers doing when he does it a school? You might want to conference with them to make sure he's not receiving to much attention when he bites.

I reccomend just talking a lot about what teeth ARE for: "I
like when you use your teeth to bite that apple like a big boy. We only put our teeth on yummy food, we never put our teeth on our friends," etc... There's a good children's book by Karen Katz called "No Biting," it's a fun and gentle reminder on how to be nice-- I would read it every night for a while. good luck and remember lots of toddlers have a biting phase. Let me know how it goes.

Tell his teachers to tell him to bite his own finger when he bites someone else. Someone suggested this to me when my kids were little and I was surprised that they did it, but it really worked. they got to see what it felt like, and I told them that if they wanted to bite, they could bite themselves, but no one else. Good luck! A lot of times it's just a phase they have to get through...

Hi D.,

This advice may be a little mean, however, my son used to bite when he was a toddler. I basically told him that it was not nice to bite other kids (or anyone). I tried to show him how it felt like by just putting my teeth on his arm (not bitting him at all). He never did it again. I guess the thought of some else doing it to him scared him just a little. In the old days I remember hearing stories of parents smacking their kids on the mouth to teach them from not bitting. I wanted to show my son what it feels like but not show him with brutal force. At first, I was reluctant to confront this issue with my son. I had to do something when he was bitting everyone including myself. Good luck. S. Z