Biting Issues

Don't look for reasons why she is doing this. A child with perfect parents might bite. Some kids just do it. The parents should try lightly biting her back. A swat to the bottom also gets attention and then a stern "no" as you touch her lips. Hopefully, it will be under control before she bites so hard as to break the skin.
You might try putting an apple out on the counter and tell her ahead of time that if she feels like biting she should gt the apple and bite it, not a person.

Pam R -
You bit your child AND your kitten?
Just trying to figure out your response . . .

Have you tried sitting down with her durring her time out or after and talking about what happened then give her some words that she should have used instead of bitting to get her toy or what ever back. Sounds like she is just having trouble expressing herself, but I'm no sycologist so good luck.

T.
My son was biting when he was 3, he had only done it at home 1 time, so until i was told about it by the daycare provider, i was unaware of how bad it was. One thing she suggested, and seemed to have worked is a little bit of vinager ,( about 1/2 teaspoon)in the mouth when she bites. It's safe and won't hurt her, but trust me she will remember it. It took my son getting it 3 times, but he doesn't bite anymore at all. I hope this helps.

Hello T., I am a sthm also and have been providing care to children for 10 years and found out what works is giving more attention to the child that seems to need more. Sometimes it takes giving more hugs, more encouragement, more of all of what has been given and redirection. If it is adding frustration, then another dicipline is needed. Also keeping the child in close range, in close observance to let the child know that they are being watched. As a child care provider, my care is to let the child know that we never hurt one another. Its a habit that has formed, and habits take sometime to break. Express to the child what her teeth are for, and that we dont hurt others. I also do a activity called I feel good about myself.
If care is needed for longer hours, know what the small child likes and allow them to spend time doing that. Attention is the key to bringing about the change. Reward the change.

We used alum. Its a bitter spice but doesnt hurt them, it \taste awful I guess. I still use it IF my older children say something they shouldnt. Needless to say that isnt very often. I have had the same small jar for a few years now. Talk it over with the parents. If they do it first then perhaps she will catch on and you will just have to show her the alum container to deter the biting.
Good luck

I know this may sound barbaric, but I swear it works. Bite her back. Not hard....just enough that she knows that it really HURTS....My mom did this to me and my sister and I did it with my kids. In all four cases (me, my younger sister, my son, and my daughter) the biting stopped immediately. Like I said...I know it sounds barbaric and mean...but she may just have to learn the "hard way" you know? Good luck with that, either way.

Considering her situation would it be possible for someone to give her alittle more one on one attention. I was told that when my son would bite his older brother is was out of frustration toward him and he didn't know how to express himself. I know it is hard to keep the attention of someone that young for very long but something that would keep her hands busy will also keep her mind at ease. Is she old enough to understand a no biting chart? For each day, (hour) she does not bite she can put a sticker on the chart. That way she gets to feel like a BIG girl. I hope the best for you.

We use vinegar in our house. It is healthy for the kid and leaves a lasting impression. Start with just swiping it on her tongue or making her stick her finger in it and put it on her tongue. This didn't make much of an impression in my 2yo, so I had him take a sip of it. That did the trick. When he throws a fit or talks back or bites, he gets vinegar.

Good luck

Each one of my children were biters at some point. It is very common at that age as they are unable to express anger with words yet. My daughter was a day care biter. She never did it with me so it was very difficult to handle as the parent. If she did it first thing in the morning and I got a note when I picked her up, I couldn't expect her to understand that I was correcting her for something she did earlier in the day, and she never did if for me so that I could catch her in the act and try to get on it that way. With my others I would take one or two fingers and with only the force of my fingers would tap them in the mouth and tell them sternly "No Bite, Biting hurts," It did slow down, but they still do it until they outgrow it. Everyone tried to tell me to bite them back so they knew that it hurts, but I had twins, they bit each other back and it didn't stop them, so I am not sure I agree with that idea. I know as the babysitter you couldn't bite them anyway, but you might see how the parents feel about you taking a finger and tapping their mouth. At the very least touching one finger to the mouth without the tap and saying no bite may at least get the point across that her mouth got her in trouble then doing time out.

I am sorry, I can't offer any help, but one of my twins is a biter... but he only bites his brother. I tried to bite him back one time, and the next day he bit someone at the babysitter's, so I don't recommend that. I have also tried time out, spanking his butt, tapping his mouth, giving him lemon juice, the doctor's idea of telling him no "in my most disappointed voice" and giving the bit child all the attention (it will hurt the biter's feelings and he will catch on after a couple of times) with no success. I will try the suggestion of vinegar, but since he seemed to like the lemon juice, I dont' know if that will work either. The babysitter has put Oragel on his tongue, and she said he didn't like that because of the bad taste - and he seems to bite less there than at home. My biggest problem at home is that he ALWAYS waits until I leave the room to bite, so it is harder to catch him in the act... and harder to determine the reason for the bite (his brother has a bad habit of taking everything from him - I'm also trying to break that one... unsuccessfully). I have witnessed him biting his brother for absolutely no reason, so it is not always "retaliation." I can honestly say that I do feel that it is for attention. He is more of a leader, much more independent than Tyler, and Tyler is somewhat of a "momma's boy" right now, so I (yes, I said I) feel like Casey doesn't get as much attention because he doesn't seem to "need" attention. I usually catch it when Tyler is crawling all over me and Casey is off playing by himself with his cars or something. I try to get Casey involved, but he acts like he enjoys playtime without Tyler trying to take everything away from him, so he usually tells me no. When he does try to get some "mommy time," Tyler has to get on my lap too. I know I am rambling, but I wanted to explain why I think this girl is probably trying to get attention. I am going to start "one-on-one" time with each of the boys because I think they are getting old enough to recognize and understand what that is (they will be 2 next month). I work full time, but my kids are very important to me. If my chores at home have to wait until after they go to bed, so be it - I want to spend as much time as possible with my boys. I am even going to start giving them separate nap times on the weekends whenever possible. Try giving her extra one-on-one time and see if that helps. If it does cut down on the biting and tantrums, tell her mom what you have done to stop the problems there and she should get the hint. Good luck to all of us!

One of my twins bit the other constantly (usually over a toy, or frustration) and someone told us to squirt lemon juice in their mouth immediately after she bit her sister - we used the lemon juice, and after a couple weeks, biting was not really an issue. She really didn't like the taste of the lemon juice, and it wasn't something that could hurt her.

In my opinion most two year old children bite because they cannot express their feelings in words yet. When the child has developed language then they can be helped to "use their words" to tell their friends to leave them alone. I have used a diversion like something hard like a carrot or hard bisquit for the child to bite."This is for biting, not your friends. The tantrum is also usually an expression of frustration. Many experts suggest ignoring temper tantrums. With very young children I have found that diversion works well."I can see how upset you are. Let's find something for you to do" If the child cannoy be diverted then moving them to a safe place so they cannot hurt themselves or others with the "when you are ready you can come play with us" has also worked. Good luck.