Jealouse

Hi D.,
Lol...I am 26 year old stay at home mom with a 16 month old son and I am 4 months pregnant too! I was so suprised to see you are in my same situation. As far as the biting goes all I can tell you is when it seems my son bites and what I do. It seems like he bites if he is tired or frustrated. Maybe not getting enough attention from me or dad. It is most important not to make a big deal about it cause that might be exactly why he does it...attention. Also it might help to simply avert his attention to a toy or something he can chew on. I wouldn't recomend biting him back though..that just teaches him it's ok to bite, then its just a game! I hope I have been some help. Good luck!
T.

I got my son 2 books one was "The birds the bees and the berenstein bears" http://search.barnesandnoble.com/bookSearch/isbnInquiry.a...
the other was "I'm a big brother now" http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.a...

The first explains what is happening to you the other explains to him what fun being a big brother is. I know with a 16 month old it's hard for him to understand a whole lot of everything but just try and get him excited about being a big brother rather than about the baby itself. Bring it back to him because he is the center of his universe. :) Also try not to tell him "I can't (blank) because I'm pregnant" Or anything similar because he'll resent the pregnancy or the baby. I know hard it can be but make sure you spend some alone time with him as well as Dad. Tell everyone in his life to tell him how special it is to be a big brother and how much fun. Maybe even give him a special big brother present, like a big brother bear. And when he starts to warm up to the idea let him help make or pick a gift for the baby and wrap it. :) Hope this helps. ~V.

This is very common. I have seen this with my children as well as driends children. I am expecting my 3rd now and my oldest (my son) is handeling it pretty well, but when he was about 18 months and I was expecting my second things were not so easy. I tried during the pregnancy and even still now to have one on one special "mommy time" both my kids look forward to it and know that they will always have that time with me. When I got pregnate with my third my daughter was extatic! I am due anytime now and for the whole 9 months she has been talking to my belly and kissing my belly. I think its a girl thing.

He was your only baby and now he feels left out. I think you should have him help out. folding baby clothes buying new baby stuff. show him everything and tell him what it's for. turn these times into baby class so that when the new baby gets here he wont be causing trubble he'll be helping mommy as the special big brother. Make it fun to have the new baby and by the way disreguard the bad behavior unless he is hurting. if he bites bite him back because you want this taken care of beofr the baby gets here with the tander skin. he could bite baby real bad. I'd bite him back until he stops. just enough to leave a mark but that way he'll know it hurts.

OK you have already gotten a ton of good advice on this one, I agree that he has no idea another baby is about to enter his world. But as far as the hitting and biting. It has to be made very clear every time that that is NOT ok, especially with new baby on the way. My sone was 20 months when my daughter was born and very jelouse, we had a hitting and biting problem too. when he hit he got sent to his pack and play (I had to reset it up) and if he just had a really bad day and couldn't keep his hands to himself, he got "taken away" from every noe else. Meaning he had to stay in there, not jsut for timeout but for an hour or so. I gave him toys to play with but he couldnt come out, he had to learn that if he wanted playmates aand physical contact he had to be nice, otherwise he had to be where he wouldn't hurt others. As far as teh biting, I know that I will get alot of bad feed back on this, but when I got bit I slapped his mouth, not hard, but enough to get his attention, and then into his pack a play he went. Our hitting problem lasted a while but our biting ploblem only lasted about a week. I am not a big condoner of hitting and spanking kids don't get me wrong, but that was something I was not going to tolerate.
Hope it helps.

H.

http://wisemommy.fourpointmoms.com

D. -
Unfortunately biting and hitting at this age are a normal part of development that kids go through - some moreso than others. Just keep stressing "no biting" and "no hitting". If you do time out or whatever for these things just make sure that you are consistant. I think it is probably a coincidence that you got pregnant when this stage started. I'm sure if you follow some of these other suggestions he will be excited about being a big brother!

He should be put in a time out every time he hits or bites. If he throws a fit ignore him, take him away from being the center of attention. At that age any attention is better than no attention, so if he can only get negitive reactions from u then that is what he'll go after. If timeouts (isolation) doesn't work, take something away from him and explain to him that he can have it back once he proves that he can treat others the way he wants to be treated. If u have to take alot away don't worry he eventually will be sick of playing with his hands by himself and start acting proper. Also whenever u see him treating the other children in the house proper tell him he is doing a good job and give him hugs and loves, do that to the other children as well so they all strive to get loves and hugs because who doesn't like that.

it is very normal for this age of child... we told our son..no bite when ever we saw him about to bite us.. we also noticed he would only bite when he was frustrated with us.. when he needed attention or a bottle or something.. they don't have communication at this point.. so hitting and biting are the way they communicate. try teaching him some simple signs.. you can learn the real ones or make up your own.. start using the same sign each time you want him to use the word.. Also..

Try reminding him of what he can do.. tell him Gentle touches and model for him what a gentle touch looks like.. Keep doing it it does take a while..

I think Kristen T said everything I could say.... Good Luck!