My 23 Month Old Bites Himself When Mad

S.,

I know this might sound crazy but, here goes..

I had a little brother who did the same thing to my younger sister. My mom was fed up with it but one day he brought blood on my sisters arm. My mom grabbed my brother and bit him on the arm and left the bite impression on him, she bit hard enough to leave it but not enough to bring blood. They say that kids don't realize the pain they are causing when they bite so if you bite them back~ they know. My brother never bit again after my mom bit him. Eye for an eye, ya know? Fight fire with fire. Good luck and I hope this didn't freak you out!

I hate to say it but you have to walk away when he bites h himself. I still remember the time my 2 year old son banged his head and actually drew blood. Guess what? He never banged his head again. I dont think a child is gonna hurt himself too seriously. Im not a doctor. Just my experience and I know how unsettling this situation is. Walking away with a watchful eye, giving no feedback until the child is under controland then back to our "normal" loving day worked for me.

There is a great board book that helped my sons learn not to bite called Teeth Are Not for Biting.
They also have others such as Hands Are Not for Hitting and Feet are Not for Kicking.

My daughter will be 3 next month and she started doing the same thing a while ago. I'm not sure what it means either....any advice would be great!

I've seen this many times with kids and it usually will pass. You say that he does this sometimes when he gets in trouble for biting. So obviously, he'll use biting as a way to deal with frustrations on anyone himself or others. Maybe you should start with a journal. Keep track of all the times he does anything towards anyone that is aggressive. Keep track of his food in take on the off chance that he's having a problem with aggression due to something he's eating.

I have a friend that had a daughter that was flying off the handle, throwing tantrum, mean to others etc. Her mother figured out somehow she was missing enough protein in her diet. She started giving her a spoonful of peanut butter when she started showing signs of being cranky. It helped a lot.

I wonder if your little one could be uncomfortable, getting 2 year old molars, or even a little bored?

I see you have another little one on the way. How far a long are you? I wonder if your son is starting to feel the stress of knowing he will be sharing you.

Suzi

my children have also done this. What I did was hold them, tell them that we don't bite even ourselves..give them a kiss and hug...after a while they stopped.

My 3 year old bites herself too sometimes when she is really mad. I guess I just ignore it figuring that she will enventually figure out that biting herself doesn't help and that it hurts. She was also a biter and it went on for quite awhile. She finally stopped biting but she still does bite herself on occasion when she is extremely mad or frustrated. So I guess my suggestion is just to let it pass and just ignore it.

S.-

My 2 year old (alomst 3) would pull her own hair when mad. She finally one day pulled it hard enough to really hurt her head. I tried everything to get her to stop. I would even show her how to pull the babydoll's hair thinking it would take the attention away from her own head. She just finally had to figure it out for her shelf that it was not worth the hurt to pull her own hair. One time she even walked over and kicked the wall when she was bad (we are still wondering were she got that from) but that one only took once. We talked to her doctor and she said she would finally figure out that it was hurting her and she would stop. I would say maybe when he starts to get mad put lotion on so when he starts to bite it taste bad. After all as adults they say to stop nail biting put hot sauce or some store bought stuff on there so it has a bad taste so it could work with lotion. I would ask a doctor before trying this thought.

After he realizes it hurts, he will stop. My son went through that phase and then I realized he was getting my attention that way along with hugs and sympathy so I was actually making it worse. He'll stop, just ignore it(not once or twice but completely) and watch what happens.

Good luck,
D.

My youngest used to do this also, she still does but it is very rare. We just had to ignore it when she did it because if we gave her attention then she just did it more. Hang in there, it will get better. When your child realizes that he isn't going to get attention for it and that it hurts then he will stop.

my son did the same thing.....actually he did it for years, until age 10. although he's stopped now, thank God. we'd talked to his doctor a few times. we saw a psychiatrist....it's one way that kids deal with anxiety. i used to be an anxious person and my son still is trying to learn to cope with it. i would suggest you talk to his doctor about it. if that doesn't get you anywhere, talk to a couselor or psychiatrist so that they can give you examples of how to channel his anxiety in another way. you may have to ask yourself if he is too anxious and what may be causing that. Ex: do you have more stress in your home than usual. during the times that we did is when my son would act out.....even if you don't think they sense what you try to hide from them.......they get it!

May be trying to get your attention...sounds like its working. I might try a couple of times just ignoring him when he does this and see if he stops.