Advice on a Biting/hitting 14 Month Old!

I have a 2 year old who was quite the biter. When he would get mad, he would bite any part of me that was close to him. I would look at him in the eye and say VERY firmly "Don't bite Mommy. That hurts!" Eventually he would get instant time out for biting me. I know he was young when he would do it, because I remember my toes getting bitten if I would not pick him up right away before he was walking. When we first started him in time outs, I would sit and hold him there & pay no attention to him to get him to stay, and after a while, he would sit by himself. When I would get him out of time out, I would explain that we don't bite, we give kisses & then give him kisses. He still reverts back from time to time, but we have instilled the tools to break it right away!

Not too young for time out!

Biting and/or hitting gets an immediate time-out in our family. We've been doing this since our son was 12 months old, and he understood very well (our pediatrician recommended starting time-outs at 9 months!)

Since you know when these episodes are coming (tired and frustrated), try diverting his attention before the blow-up occurs.

If he's screaming and crying, I bet when you say "he won't get up for nothing" it's because you're trying to get him to do something else. Walk away and ignore him (keeping close to make sure he's safe.) He'll stop.

When your son bites because a toy is taken away from him by a sibling it is frustrating to him. Help him to find the words in response,"my truck or no it's mine" . When he has more control of his environment and can vocalize his anger it will help him to stop. Right now he is reacting the only way he knows how. Help to give him another way. Hang in there !

I have heard The Explosive Child is a wonderful book for understanding how to deal with a more intense child.

You may also want to look closer at whether he is ready for weaning- 14 months is still very young and it seems to be affecting him deeply. Is there any reason that it needs to happen now? I've found my children have built a strong sense of independence and security by extended breastfeeding with a more child-led approach. Here's a good article about the benefits of extended nursing: http://www.mothering.com/articles/new_baby/breastfeeding/...

The best advice I can give is to stay consistent, respond to his rebellion at his level, kneel down, look in his face, and say "That is not okay, you may not hit/bite mommy, it hurts." and remove him from the situation. He's probably too young to stay in a time-out, but you can definitely re-direct him to another place. If it's breastfeeding he's upset about, explain to him that he can't have mommy's milk right now, but he can have milk in a sippy cup and offer it to him.

Good luck!