My youngest was the only one of my 3 to do this. She kept biting her best friend. I told her if she did it again i would bite her. She did it again so i bit her and she never did it again.

Our biter just thought it was funny and laughed when she bit us. We eventually managed to get her to stop it when we walked away and ignored her. She gets as much attention as all her siblings and is actually older than one of them who is past the stage of needing extra attention.

We had a biter. Luckily not of other kids but I agree with all of this advice and it’s good for people to read why they do it and not just assume they are a bad kid.

Fortunately we never had a biter – it can be distressing.

I agree with that, yes quick action is key to reflect the importance of what has happened.

Thanks for this. I think it’s important for parents to remember, sometimes children do it when they can’t communicate their thoughts/feelings, so smacking them for aggressive behaviour doesn’t help the situation. Sure they may stop, but it doesn’t address the why and it’ll just lead to other bad behaviour.

My 2 year old is a piranha.. I’ll definitely be going through these steps with her!

Great advice

Some great tips here for the parents of little ones who bite. Thankfully we havent had that issue with ours!

• • 
  • • mom93821 replied
    • 02 Jul 2019 , 5:22 am

  ---

  We are thankful for not having this as an issue – must be a struggle for some parents.
  Hopefully this article is helpful for them.

Never had this as an issue – however – an interesting article.

A good article with helpful tips.

Some great tips. I definitely agree with addressing it immediately and firmly. Especially saying “no biting, biting hurts. Use gentle hand or use your words” (depending on age and development obviously.
But I’ve found this most effective when working in childcare to say no and to say biting hurts. But has to be immediate or else the child doesn’t comprehend or thinks there’s no consequence and keeps biting.

Great points and tips thanks

Good points.
My 5yr old bites sometimes, not only out of frustration or anger, also out of affection ! She has Down Syndrome. Having a discussion with her about it doesn’t make sense, as she doesn’t understand. In her case it’s just teaching “no” and to be gentle.

Good read, and handy tips to follow.

My grandson is going through a biting phase at the moment. It’s a hard one to fix

I know of a little one who used to bite. She would do this if she wasn’t the centre of attention. They tried disciplining her by giving her time out and telling her it was very naughty to do this. Nothing worked until she bit a little boy and he bit her back. She was shocked at first and then started to cry. Both sets of parents said that their child no longer bites because they realised how it much it hurt. (No skin was broken on either child).

I think my son bit once and we were so shocked by it. We discussed it and he never did it again. I wouldn’t have labelled him a biter. However, we have come across children who are biters – it’s their first instinct when they don’t get their way. It’s up to parents to manage this situation and teach their child other options vs biting.

The only one of my children to bite used to bite themselves as a way of getting the other children into trouble.

My 4yr old bites regularly. She’s 4,5 yrs old, has Down syndrome and is pretty much non-verbal. She only bites at home and does it out of affection most of the time, so I call it a love bite, lol ! I always go on her level and say “no biting, that hurts”, while pointing to her teeth, sometimes gently holding her chin. She can give the best of cuddles and let her make it up. I figure it will stop as soon as her speech developes.