Little Vampire!

I know that my girlfriend had the same issue with her son. She was constantly having to pick him up from day care because of it and he even got kicked out of a few. She ended up biting him back hard enough that it hurt. He wasn't understanding how much it hurt other people until someone did it to him and then he stopped. Sounds drastic but it worked. Another reason why he may be biting is that he's bored. Maybe he needs to be more mentally stimulated with more one on one contact. See if the day care could help with that. That was another issue my girlfriend had.

I would look at what is provoking that behavior and approach it from there.

Is he hyper? Eliminating sugar, food dyes and other additives can have profound effects, as well as gluten. (This has also worked to eliminate ADD/ADHD, too!)

If he gets attention by doing it, that can encourage it, which is difficult because our reaction can be his encourager!

I strongly suggest looking into food additives. (Read Doris Rapp's "Is This Your Child?")

As with the other responders, I think it is most important to figure out if there is a reason for the behavior. I am an occupational therapist by training and have worked with this age group for a number of years. With the family history of ADD/HD do you think he is overstimulated and/or seeking organizing input. If you look into Sensory Integration their theory is that children seek out deep pressure (biting) to help themselves calm down, organize themselves,etc. If he were doing the biting for this reason you could incorporate heavy work/deep pressure activities into your day (deep pressure hugs, push ups on wall/chair, rough and tumble play,etc.) If this were the issue you could also try to incorporate foods which give good feedback...for instance crunchy/chewy foods give deep pressure input to the mouth to lessen seeking through biting (licorice, carrots, gummies, pretzels,etc). I know this is a bit confusing and there are many reasons children bite but it may be something you want to experiment with. You can also email me if you would like more input. There are some good books on sensory integration too if you are leaning this direction (The Out of Sync Child you can get at Barnes and Noble)

When he bites you, you bite him back and do it every single time!. How ever hard he bites you, you do the same. He will stop, trust me. My daughter did the same thing and I bit her back and she stopped. Try it, it works :)

How about "time-out"? Say, "No biting" and then put him in time out for 2 minutes. If he gets out, patiently put him back in. Afterwards talk and ask him if he know why he was in time out, or remind him why. Keep doing this and be consistent, even if you are out of the house, remove him from the situation.

I agree with the mom that suggested that you need to figure out why this is happening. She gave a lot of good suggestions. My curiosity is how is his communication?

Kids need a way to communicate if words are not working for them they will find other ways. Biting was one of the big ways for my oldest son. It took us a while to get him off of the biting, but it was after he learned a new form of communication sign language and then English. Some will tell you that sign language will prevent verbal language, that is not true. It has been proven to support it and when a child is having difficulties with verbalization, having another form of communication is important.

Don't assume just bcse he can say words that he knows how to communicate. My oldest daughter had tons of words and I thought she was just being difficult, but in reality she did not know how to communicate but had tons of words (she has autism). So is he able to communicate verbally to get his needs met, or is it possible that he is telling people, "Leave me alone, or that is mine", via his teeth?

Good luck, I know it is difficult with a child that bites.

One other thought, I have always found better success with telling my kids what behavior they should have used. "We use teeth for eating" or "When you want my attention touch my leg with your hand".
KP