Biting 19 Month Old

When my daughter was little she had problems with biting other kids at the baby-sitters and the babysitter had her bite into an onion.It seemed to take care of the issue pretty quickly.

I know this can be very controversial, but I had both of my kids bite me a couple of times, and I bit them back and they never did it again. You have to remember that the child doesn't understand what kind of pain their actions cause. They just see it as a quick way to express anger and they also see it as an act that creates a lot of reaction from the person they bite. You have to show them somtimes what their actions feel like, in order for them to understand.

I'm not talking drawing blood on your kid, but what I did was sat them on my lap and said, "no no, that hurts, see??" and I slowly bit down on their arm. They didn't like it, but they also never ever bit again!

This may sound strange but it works!
My 2 year old started biting everything, I hated to yell, because she was otherwise a perfect child to have.
I read in a magazine to give your child "bite medicine", it is just a drop (from a dropper) of vinegar. I could not believe it. I was at my wits end, and all of the sudden when she bit her brother, I looked at her and said, "I have to give you a drop of this medicine to help you quit biting". I put one drop on her tongue and she hated it but she never bit again. I caught her getting ready to bite one day and just said, "I will get the bite medicine out if you do." She stopped and pulled away. I know it sounds strange, I thought the same thing, but you may try it.

Good Luck and God Bless,
From another B.,

This will sound awful but I promise it works, a few of my girlfriends have done it with there kids as well.

When our youngest was 2 he would bit his sister who was 4, it got to the point where she would run away from him in tears to avoid it. One day I said "Bit him back" he wont realize it hurts until he feels it for him self. So the next time she bite him back and he cried and cried, she didnt even leave a mark it was just the fact that she was doing it to him to that he didnt like. This happened about 4 time before he got the message, he stopped biting her and all other kids.

I realize this might sound mean and maybe it wont work for everyone but children most of the time bit to get the attention of the person they are biting. It has worked for several of my friends too. I mean its not like you have to bit hard but just the simple motion of the act them seeing you do it back is enough in its self to make them stop.
~A.

I have 8 children and soon to be 3 grandbabies and yes ive had a couple good biters myself . whats really bad is when they start to bite other children. and if you dont get them out of it before pre-K etc. and they bite other children at school charges can be filed by the other parent. i was at my wits end with my son Joseph and i hated to do it but i had to do what my Mom and mother-n-law suggested. everytime he bit that person said very harsley nooo. and bit them back in the same area not to hurt them just to let them feel the pain of it and that it didnt feel good. and like i said i hated to do it but had done everything else. and after a week it worked!!!! so when my first grandbaby came along he was the same way and it took 2 days and its all over with. i know it sounds mean but its best to stop it now before the child bites another child really bad. i hope you figure it out dsoon God Bless.

My oldest daughter had a spout with biting when she was about 2 (she is 16 now) and after a couple of bites back from the other kid (who I guess got tired of being bit, and dedided to bite her back) she stopped. Out of 4 kids she is the only one who did it. Good Luck.

I have learned that they bite to show that they are angry or don't like the situation they are in, or they are playing. With my daughters, I stopped them before they had a chance to bite. You can tell when thry are going to bite someone, you can distract her before she has a chance. If she does bite tell her that biting hurts and you don't like that.

At about the same age, my daughter was doing the same thing. I kept VERY close to her when we were around other kids playing. I kept within arms reach at all time and kept close watch. Everytime she went in for the attack I picked her up and said NO, we do not do that. I sometimes parked her in a corner or time out area and said over, no, we do not bite, not nice, etc. There was a short period I actually avoided playdates, but it was not long before distraction and prevention did the trick.
Biting back just seems mean, but I have heard many success stories. That would have been my last line of defense.
They do eventually grow out of it.

My son did that and what we did was a tap on the lips and a firm no. I'm saying take your finger and tap her lip, no flicking or anything mean just a tap. Worked for him!!

My son went threw a similar stage. Luckily it did not last long. After the first couple of times I realized a bad pattern was forming so I would flick his mouth (enough to get his attention , but not hurt him). Then I would explain that we don't bite because it hurts people and is not nice. After a few times of being consistant he began telling me "mommy I not bite cause it not nice". Good luck.

I agree with most responses, bite him back. When I was little I was a biter (apparently I thought it was kissing) but my mom bit me back and I never bit again. It only took her the one time, and I don't remember it, so it clearly didn't have an emotional effect.

Bite him back...it's not hypocritical, but almost everyone I know with little kids that bite, including my own, all stopped once biting them back.
My son has been disciplined much in the past with time outs. Now that he's bigger and fights them a bit more, I don't sit him in a chair or in a corner, I just pick him up, put him in his room and shut the door. He's not allowed out until he can calm down. When he does calm down we talk about why he got in trouble and I always ask him if he understands. If he says yes I ask him "then what are you NOT going to do anymore?" to make sure he understands. Your daughter is probably a bit to small for that approach, but even from the time he was about 2 I would take away his mommy time.
I would tell him "Now you can't play with mommy for a little while because you aren't being nice" then put him in time out. He freaks out if he thinks he can't play with me. If he;s being mean while we are just watching TV or something I tell him he can't sit by me if he won't be nice. It breaks his heart, which makes it effective. They aboslutely can't handle the idea of not being able to have their mommy time.
Whatever you do stick to your guns, she will poull through it eventually.

My little girl was about that age when she started to bit her sister. I didn't know what to do either until my mother-in-law told me that my husband use to bit when he was little and the lonly way the could stop him was to start bitting back. Sounds cazy and I really didn't want to but I had enough! So I started bitting her everytime she bit someone and at the end of the week she stopped. Its strange but it worked. Good luck with that!

I'm thouroghly surprised at how many other moms recommend biting back!

I was a biter as a young child. My mom had tried everything to no avail so one day she bit me. Once. That's all it took. She said it was the hardest thing to do but it worked. Like the other mom who posted - I don't remember it happening so there's obviously no emotional scar left by that :)

Try it if all else fails - appearantly it really does work.