Help with Biting

Updated on June 25, 2007
H.J. asks from Idaho Falls, ID
13 answers

Does anyone have any advice on biting? A child in my care has been biting for several months and doesn't seem to be outgrowing it. She's not biting when tired, hungry, mad, frustrated..she just bites. We have tried time out, seperation, of course talking to her..she's only 17 months so she doesn't have many verbal skills. She bites at home as well..we are all just at our wits end (including the other children's parents) Any ideas, ladies?

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M.W.

answers from Casper on

My daughter was a biter and she just kind of grew out of it... One thing to try if you don't want to try the biting back thing (which I have also heard from many people works) is to attach a teething ring to the kid's shirt with a short string and a safety pin. Every time he bites tell him no, we don't bite people we bite this or better yet try to catch him in the act and put the teething ring in his mouth before he can bite. That is a trick one of my daycare providers used and she said it worked like a charm. I never did try that with my daughter cause she mysteriously stopped biting on her own, but it seemed like a good idea.

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S.C.

answers from Sioux Falls on

My daughter did the same thing when she was about the same age, maybe 2 at the most. She would bite me, my friends, other babies at daycare; she even bit one of my guy friends on the inside of his leg very close to where a man would not like to be bit while he was sitting at the kitchen table! We tried everythig we could think of, scolding, time-outs etc. I finally did the one thing that my pediatrician and all the baby-rearing books tell you NOT to do...I bit her back! I'm not saying this is the right thing for you to try, but I just bit her quite hard on her arm right after she left marks in my hand and told her that she hurt me and she never, and I mean never, bit me or anyone else again! Good luck with it! I would imagine that she will eventually grow out of it but it is definitely not fun to deal with. It's kind of like having a naughty puppy in your house!

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M.M.

answers from Casper on

I agree with most everyone here. Our youngest son was a biter. We bit him back and it took a couple of times, and he quit. He didn't like it, and finally realized how it hurt. His sister would cry when I bit him back. He would bite here and she would say "oh no momma don't bite him back, it will hurt him" and she'd cry harder for him being bit than when she was bit by him. It was torture for her to see it, but it made him quit biting!
Blessings!

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A.R.

answers from Omaha on

Bite back. We've done it on our three and it seems to help them realize that it hurts.

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N.A.

answers from Spokane on

Well my son went through a biting stage when he was about 18 months old. He bit me and drew blood and I bit him back, not hard, but enough to get his attention. At that age they do not know the concept of their actions. But I did it once to him and he has never bitten again. There is a reaction to every action.

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J.M.

answers from Des Moines on

I agree with everything that been said so far. Some kids need a physical application to what their doing. Also, have the parents tried basic signing with him. As biting is usually contributed to the inability to communicate effectively. My sister was a biter, I was one of the bitees, she actually drew blood. Isolating her was what did the trick. With her, she was not allowed out of the back yard and we all had chain link fences, so she could see everyone playing and didn't like not being involved. When he's isolated is he totally alone or can he see everyone else?

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C.M.

answers from Boise on

when my kids use to bite at daycare they use to give him a teaspoon of vinigar and tell him its not nice to bite and the taste of the vinigar after about 3 times made them quit

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C.H.

answers from Great Falls on

Not to sound cruel but when my 8 year old was about 2 she bit me soooo hard for no reason so I bit her back (not hard) and the shock of it coming back on her made her stop and think, then she told me she didn't like it, I told her nobody else did either and she never bit again. I can't stress enough that I did not bite her hard or hurt her in any way but I did get her attention.

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J.R.

answers from Missoula on

Hi H.. My son is 20 months old and does the same thing. The only advice that I keep getting about a child biting is to bite them back, but I can honestly say that I don't think that it works. I think the only thing that might work is when a child around the same age bites them, that way they will understand, plus it will be with about the same pressure that they are using.

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J.O.

answers from Boise on

I agree Bite back, my oldest was a horrible biter,he drew blood multiple times on his sister and just about everyone else, I tried everything cause i didn't want to bite him, I can still remeember to this day my mom bitting me when I'd bit someone, I was a biter also, but in the end one goos bite, just enough so he could get a good feeling of what it was like was all it took in the end,

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D.L.

answers from Grand Forks on

I hope I can help you. My grandson was a biter and we tried everything. We were at our wits end. Finally, I thought of me pretending to bite his mother everytime he bit someone. He wouldn't like his mother bit. My daughter would pretend to cry, this is the only way we got him out of this. You can give it a try, it worked for me. Good luck and let me know if you are going to try it and see if it works.

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W.H.

answers from Boise on

My daughter used to be the biter. We tried everything to get her to stop. We bit her back, hot sauce, time-outs. She finally stoped when she was bit by a child her own age. Good luck.

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J.H.

answers from Sioux Falls on

One of my friends little boy had the same issue with biting and all it took was biting him back once by his mom and he decided maybe that wasn't such a good thing to do. My daughter was actually the victim of a biter a couple times at daycare and what they taught her to say was not nice when someone bit her and it seemed to curb the biter as well pointing out by someone her own age that it was not a good thing to do.
Good Luck!

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