Discipline - Lexington,KY

My son was the same way. The way I broke him from biting was to bite him back. It worked, but broke my heart, because he cried.

I have a 2 year old who went through a biting phase as well. Can I ask why you sit with him in time out? We started putting our son in time out around that same age (15 to 16 months) and he would of course get up, but we would pick him up and sit him right back down. Then he would get up, and we would do it again - pick him up and sit him down. We would stay in the room (far across the room), but not sit with him. Do you think this may be confusing him? It may not be "punishment" to him if you are so close. When our son would try to get up, and after we would sit him back down, we would tell him sternly "You are in time out because you bit. Sit down!" It took two more times after that, and then he stayed sitting permanently in the "time out" chair. And because he hates being "apart" from us in time out, the biting quit within a week or so. Hope this helps some. Good luck!

good luck with the biting thing i realy think they need to grow out of it... both of my kids did it and my youngest is 2 and does it when she gets mad and i have not yet found away to break her of it...

when my 2 year old started biting baou that age i chose to ignore it as much as i could and not acknowledge all though i didnt do that because i thought it wasnt right i did it because he was angry and wanted a toy and i would remove his mouth from whatever he was biting on gently and continue on with my business and do not let him hear you talk about it he knows what you are talkin bout dont be fooled. that worked for me best luck. now i have to deal with hime throwing stuff when he gets mad i dont know which was worse.

I saw and episode on Dr. Phil about this. I also have had a little boy who did the same thing. Dr. Phil's advise worked for me. Basically he said to catch him when he is going to bite not after. And say no bite. This too will pass.

The only luck I had with my biter was biting her back. Once she realized that everyone she bit was going to bite her back and that it hurts, she quit.

have you tryed letting him know how it feels, may sound mean but in the long run its not , just a light bit. after awhile maybe he will get the understanding you dont like since he dont.

My son started doing that a few months ago. The best advice I have to give is bite him back. Not very hard, but just enough to let him know how it feels. My son stopped biting after I did that. Most of the time they think its a game. So if biting him back dosn't work, ignore it when he does it. Don't give him any kind of reaction at all. Just continue doing exactly what you were doing when he bit you. After a couple of times of this he will stop because he is getting no reaction from you and thats what he really wants.

My son went through a biting stage around the same age. We realized later that a lot of the biting came from frustration of having speech delay and inability to communicate to us his wants/needs. Do you have any concerns about speech delay? Having said that, even if he does have a speech delay, you obviously want to stop the biting. One thing we did that worked for us was when our son would bite was we told him no and then put a drop of lemon juice in his mouth. Of course he didn't like it as it tastes bad but that got the point across that biting is bad just like the lemon juice tastes bad. When our son would start to bite, I would get the lemon juice out as a reminder and a lot of the times he was able to stop himself at the thought of having that in his mouth. It's a harmless thing since lemon juice isn't toxic and it worked for us! I hope you find something that works. K.

I was told to bite them back because they do not realize how it hurts. Hopefully that will work.

He is biting because he feels helpless at the loss of his autonomy when you use control over him, like taking away a toy. Biting is the only way he has to say to you "Hey, I don't like it when you take my things and I feel very frustrated with you." I think when dealing with issues like this it is very important to put your own thoughts and feelings aside--acknowledge to yourself that YOU feel angry, YOU have hurt feelings, and YOU feel like you have to punish him because otherwise he might turn into a biting monster and that would make YOU seem like a bad parent. Once you sift through your feelings about the situation, you will be free to focus on your son instead and what HE is feeling. Does that make sense? Punishing him for biting is only making the biting urge worse because he is already frustrated at his loss of control, then you use further control to remove him from your love and struggle to keep him sitting in time out, which lets him know that you didn't get his first message (via the biting) about how frustrated he was. So, he is left with feelings that are not acknowledged, and that makes him even more frustrated than in the first place. When you have to tell him no, try doing it gently and with the illusion that he has more choice in the matter. If you need to take something away from him, try to trade with another fun toy first. Or explain to him why he can't have it and why you are taking it. When he gets angry, acknowledge how angry he is and state what happened, "You feel angry because I took away your toy and you would have liked to keep playing with it." Even though he is only 16 months old, he understands quite a bit more than you might realize. If he bites, tell him "Biting hurts. It is not ok to bite when you are angry. If you are angry, you can stomp your feet, but please do not bite mommy, it makes me very sad." I treat my 18 month old this way, and not only does it make you very bonded to your child and well aware of their needs, it also helps build their self esteem instead of tearing it down with punishment. And, it really works. www.naturalchild.org has a lot of articles about these things if you are interested, and the book Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves is also excellent.

My 2 yr old is biting and ive tried everything. I finally took my moms advice and bit her back so far no biting. And i agree witht he other who responded dont sit with your son in timeout. I know its frustrating but when he gets up sit him back ddown and tell himt o stay in his chair. Eventually he will get it. Just be strong and stick to it/

My son never went thru the bitting stage, but I have heard other moms do something a little odd, but they say it works. My niece bit my sister in law and she bit her back and she never once did it again. I know that sounds a little extreme, but she is not the only mom I have heard of doing that. Also I know this is foward but at the end of March my son and I are moving to Morganton and I was wanting to find local moms and kids to hang out with. I really don't know anybody up there and I am a little nervious about the move. If you have any suggestions or know of any organizations that we could join please let me know.

This is a phase you just have to suffer through. Be consistent and continue punishing him when he does it. Punishment is not a bad thing. Try positive and negative reinforcement with him. When he bites, he gets time out. Just like you said. However, if you tell him no about something and he does not bite and merely accepts it and behaves, praise him a good deal and give him something special. Show him that there are rewards to being well behaved. Try and explain to him why biting is bad. Try to explain to him why he got into trouble. When it is time to come out of time out, explain it to him one more time, tell him you love him, hug him, and then return to your day. Even if he does not understand it fully yet, if you are consistent, he will. You can teach your children and be firm with them without damaging their self esteem and it sounds to me like you are doing just fine. He knows you love him and as he gets older will know you always did your best by him. He has to learn, that's just how it is. If you think it is a communication issue he is having, then try showing him a more positive or acceptable way to vent his frustration. Stomping feet is not really acceptable, either. It's rather bratty. If you have to tell him no or take something away, move him quickly on to something else. We want our children well balanced and equipped to deal with the world when we are no longer there to guide them. It will work out. Good luck!

EDIT/ADD***/// The reason I do not advice the biting him back thing is that at this age, children are in an egocentric world. They do not understand that others feel the same way they do. At all. This is necessary. It's basic psychology. All it leads to is the question, "If you can bite me, why can't I bite you?" And also that using violence is a way to solve problems. Not to mention that if someone is treating you badly it's ok to treat them badly in return. For those who say it worked, it's just the same as spanking. The reason it worked is that they responded to the punishment, not to relation "Oh, that hurts, I shouldn't do it." Just thought I would throw that out there.