19 Mo Old Biting

My daughter was exactly the same age when she started hitting people. Whenever she got excited, whack! You could just see the excitement building in her right before she hauled off and hit someone. I also didn't want to have "that kid"! Ha ha. We just kept telling her no, and it finally sunk in. She is now a 5 1/2 year old sweetheart :)

While I was nursing my daughter she began biting and when we would play with her and she would become excited she would BITE! so the pediatrician said to do timeouts. I did not believe it would work...however! it did. when she would bite we would stop whatever we were doing and take her to her crib and she would have to stay for 2 minutes. Then when I took her out I would tell her that we don't bite and that I loved her. I am proud to say that timeout works for her very well now and she no longer bites!
good luck.

Hi, K., I would nip this in the bud. No pun intended! I used to bite my sister, and my mother tried everything. She finally bit me back (my mother that is!) and I never bit my sister again. My oldest child is VERY strong-willed (she has ODD), so the first time she bit me, I bit her back and that was the end of that! Good luck!

Both of my boys were biters at this age. I think they just need to grow out of it. Constant reprimand for biting helps them not do it...and to be honest, giving them a gentle bite back helps them understand that it does not feel bad. My youngest used that as his retaliation for everything. But he didnt start bting until he went to an in-home daycare for about 4 weeks. The little boy who lived there is a very physical little boy, a year older than mine, and constantly hit and kicked him. My son would bite back and I let him do it then. The parents never told their son no, and me telling him did no good. But I would tell him NO firmly, and sometimes even put my finger on his mouth and tell him no. Biting is not okay, but it is normal for this age group. I hope he stops soon, for your sanity, because I know how frustraing it is!

My son did the same thing at that age. No matter how many times I told him "No", he seemed to think it was some kind of fun game and kept biting. Finally, after he bit me 3 times in a row and was just not getting the message, I bit him back gently on his shoulder. He was surprised and cried for a bit, I told him how sorry I was and hugged him, but he finally understood that biting hurt and he didn't bite anymore after that. It's one thing to know that biting hurts, it's another if it's done in self defense. Is the other girl biting him? Hard to know what's going on without the specifics.

To me it doesn't matter if he's doing on purpose or not. What he is doing hurts and if not addressed it will progress to being mean. What I would do is react negatively when he bites. You don't have to be mean. But when he bites i would say "No, that hurt" I'm not going to play if your going to bite. and stop playing. When the next time comes around you are playing again and he does it again I would do the exact same thing. After a few times he will get the idea. It won't take many times prob. 3. Good luck

i agree with you that it's probably not malicious, just excitement and incomprehension. PLEASE don't bite him back. kids learn from what we do far more than what we say, and this would introduce a whole host of issues about what bigger stronger people do to smaller weaker ones. but you should indeed be firm. each time he bites i would say 'NO! that HURTS!' and put him in a short time out. do it consistently, gently and with love. and then be done with it. don't anticipate it, lecture about it, or acknowledge (feed) it in any way. he'll get the idea very quickly.
khairete
S.