my son is consistantly lashing out by biting. He is 19 months and decides if he wants something he bites. Whether h wants something someone else has got, whether its that someone else is trying to take something from him... he bites me, the table the nearest toy, the toy he wants to keep hold of his cousin... etc anyone have any ideas? ive tried biting back but that only maks him cry and me feel bad, then he goes and does it all over again... im going crazy....
hey i,m in agreement with the idea of the lemon juice however my aunt olivia used to take hot chili pepper juice and place it on her arms and when she recieved a bite from her children it was the first & last time that they would do so, of course she would give them a good verbal lashing, but I never could understand spanish . paschar
My daughter went through this same thing a little before 18 months. When I was at her 18 month appt. I asked her doctor if he had any suggestions on how to get her to stop biting. Here is his advice: Get lemon juice from the store and when she bites squirt a little bit in her mouth and tell her No Biting. I tried this and she ended up liking the lemon juice so I used the lime juice. After about three times she quit biting.
Tell him firmly 'Ouch! We do not bite' or 'NO!' in a high pitched voice or try 'No biting!'
Remove him from the situation. 19 months might be a bit young to punish in timeouts. I would not advise biting back - that is showing him that it's okay if you do it.
Reiterate to him several times after the incident - mouths are for eating and drinking. Not for biting.
Reward him if/when you are playing together and he doesn't bit. If he reaches for something, say "Would you like a turn? Here you go...thank you for not biting! You are a big boy!"
If it gets a huge reaction out of you, he may be biting just to get a rise. Try to minimize how you react and see if that makes a difference.
Keep an eye on him when he's playing with other kids in order to avoid that. But it will inevitably happen. Apologize to the kid and their parent(s). It happens to almost all kids at some point.
Maybe he is teething? When he bites, ask him if his mouth hurts. Give him a wet or frozen rag to bite on. Tell him he can bit on that when he wants to or if he gets upset.
Does your son have good communication skills? If so encourage his to use his big boy words when he needs something for feels angry. If not, you could try sign language to help him get his point across. If that fails, I would try to find an object that can be his tool for letting out anger. Giving him this one thing and telling him "if you are mad, you can bite this. It is not OK to bite anything else." Having one thing to lash out at might keep him from hurting anyone else and give him a sense of control over his emotions.
My son went through the biting phase around that age (maybe even a little younger). I would tell him in a very firm voice "no biting!" and then put him in timeout. Our timeout was that I had a booster chair in the formal dining room (where nobody ever goes) turned to face the wall. I would strap him in and walk away for one minute. He hated being in there alone staring at a wall and the biting stopped relatively (within a couple of weeks) soon after we started doing this.
If he doesn't talk yet, try teaching him some basic sign language to help him ask for what he wants without biting. If he does speak, you need to tell him to "use his words" to ask for what he wants. Try to help him verbalize it. I'm assuming this is, at least in part, due to frustration over his inability to communicate what he wants/needs.
I understand how frustrating it can be. I would try to catch my son before he actually bit down and tell him "no biting" and take him directly to timeout. It did work and he no longer bites, so give it a shot! Best of luck.
