Biting STILL

So is there really nothing we can do to stop the biting? Jonah has literally taken a hunk of out Morgan's arm. Tonight when I took off Morgan's clothes, I counted at least 6 teeth impressions, including one full set on his back. Thank GOD Jonah is my kid, or I would seriously have fed him to the wolves! They can't even play together right now. It's ridiculous. I only caught Jonah once over the weekend and that's because Morgan shrieked out when he bit him. Did you separate them a lot during this time? And, when it happens, how do you console one while punishing the other? if I console Morgan first, it seems like a long time between the offense and the time out for Jonah, kwim?

I know he doesn't know that he's hurting him, but it's hard not to feel anger when I see Morgan's body covered in teeth marks (literally). I know if I was a parent of a singleton and my child came home from daycare covered in bites, I would be furious. I do know that daycare is watching them as closely as possible and putting him in time out at the big table. I just don't know what else to do!

I've got a child vampire here! But seriously, I need HELP!

Shannon

 

Shannon, I just wanted to give you :hug99: because I have NO clue about the biting thing! We were fortunate to not have to deal with it, but I know MANY MANY MANY who have, so you are not alone, but I don't have the answers. :hug99:

You can also call the pedi and they may shed some light on it for you as well! :hug99:

 

Shannon- Big :hug99: :hug99: !!! I totally feel your pain...literally. DH is covered in bite marks from Vampire Declan--Ronan caught a bad one on his arm today too, when they were playing together. I know how frustrating it is--we're trying to distract him before he bites, look into his eyes and sternly say "no biting" and stuff like that, but nothing has really worked so far. Other moms I've talked to (with biters themselves) say that they grow out of it....eventually. <_<

Hopefully the accumulated wisdom of the TS moms will come up with a solution for us.... Good luck--I totally know what you're going through, if that helps at all. :hug99:

 

We also went through this quiet a lot at this age. One of my boys even had a bite mark on his cheek!!! They seemed to grow out of it for us thankfully. My DH would just try to catch the biter before it happened. It was a rough few weeks/months for us. When my boys stopped teething, they seemed to stop biting each other. I hope this phase ends soon for you.

 

We are in the same boat here! It started with Jordan biting Mackenzie, everyday - all the time. Now Mackenzie is doing the biting. At least with Jordan, you could discipline her for it and she would get it. But Mackenzie laughs as she is running away! Jordan's arms are covered in red welts and bruises. And the peds don't help. I asked their doc and the one I work for, and we've done what they've said, but it doesn't help. I guess they will have to grow out of it. We just try to stay on thop of them and catch them before they do it. But of course that isn't always the case. My son bit once or twice and we disciplined him and that was the end of it. With twins, there is always someone readily available when they get mad, frustrated, excited, etc.

 

My boys went through this stage too, I think at about 18 months. One bit the other one constantly. The victim had 5 or 6 bite marks on his back on any given day! Nothing we tried worked. I think he grew out of it around his second birthday. We scolded him all the time for it, but when he got mad that it was his first reaction, like he couldn't control it! I was worried because the one being bitten didn't even try to defend himself, he just sat there and cried. The one who was biting still resorts to a little bite here and there when nothing else gets his brother's attention. Now his brother turns around and bites him back. Not good, I know, but it is fairly infrequent now and usually stops his brother in his tracks

 

My DD started doing this around 2 out of frustration or anger. And the only recipient of her bites was DS. Poor thing was getting eaten up After time outs, talking to her, etc for the year that she did it on and off, I finally did something that has stopped it all together. Now I'm totally gonna catch some flack for this but for us, it worked. No one has ever bitten DD before, so she didn't know how it felt. One day she bit DS on his bare skin and almost drew blood. I reprimanded her and then bit her back. Not hard, just enough that she would feel it. She was upset, and said "it hurt" and we talked about how she didn't like that, and how she shouldn't do it to others. That was the last time she used her teeth for anything other than eating. I felt horrible for doing it, but it was my last resort.

 

We are going through this now, too. Like a couple PP, one baby is always the perpetrator, one the victim. The worst part is, when I scold Anni, she laughs like it's funny, but Ainsley starts bawling like she thinks I just scolded HER. *sigh*
I hop ehtey grow out of it soon...

 

Shannon- we went through that for a while and it got really bad at one time. I was about ready to beat Cooper. Then Eli started doing it to others at school They still ocasionally bite but we have tried to intervene when we knew it was about to happen(which isn't always possible). We never really separted them.

A couple of months ago when Cooper was doing it really bad we did put him in timeout if we caught him doing it. We would forcefully say, NO BITING, and take him to the time-out spot. If that didn't seem to bother him(and sometimes it didn't) we would put him in a pack n play for 1 minute b/c that really did get his attention.
Now what we do when we see it happening is say No really loud and they generally stop. If they do end up biting we will scorn the biter but go straight to the bitee and make a big deal consoling him! That worked for a while but now it's back-firing sometimes b/c whoever bit will see us oohhhing and aaahhhhing over the one bit and bite himself!

At first when they started biting there was no rhyme or reason to it. Now if they get in a disagreement over an object one will bite.

Good Luck! I really think it's a phase and ours was at it's worse at the age Morgan and Jonah are at.

 

QUOTE(stephe @ Dec 14 2007, 03:27 PM) [snapback]534405[/snapback]
now it's back-firing sometimes b/c whoever bit will see us oohhhing and aaahhhhing over the one bit and bite himself!
OMG! You're kidding, right? Jeez louise, this gives me no hope! But at least the commiserating is there! And actually, when I think about it, maybe it's a good thing. Because when they bite themselves and see how much it hurts, then they'll understand why we tell them NO! UGH!

 

Ok, some people may have a hard time with this, but it worked like a charm and the biting stopped in a mere two days, and it was bad. On any given day they would have bite marks all over their bodies and once they started going at the face, I KNEW I had to do something.

So I went to the store and bought the mildest soap I knew of - Ivory. White. Original. Bar form.

I warned them once, and told them if anyone bit again, they'd get soap in the mouth. When it happened again, I got the soap a little wet, stuck the corner in and made sure they got just a little scraped on their teeth for the full effect. I let it sit there for a second and then told them that's what happens when you bite, and then i wiped the mouth out with a towel and gave them some water.

Seriously, in 2 days, they were over biting. Day 1 they got it 3 times, Day 2 once and on Day 3 there was no biting. They still get it if they bite too, but they know the consequence so very rarely have I had to use it again.

My girls were close to 2 when i started this technique.

Biting can be really serious, I feel for you.

Good luck!

 

Thanks ladies! I'm getting out the pnp this weekend to start putting him in timeout. He bit another kid today at daycare TWICE. The note said that "Jonah bit one of his friends BAD today." That dang boy can be so sweet one second (he's my big hugger right now) and then a "vampire" the next. Ahhhh...please let this phase end soon.

Good luck to all of you going thru this as well. It bites (pun intended :lol: )! Shannon

 

Sara was a biter. She started at about the age that yours are now. At first I tried telling her "no biting" with a stern voice and that didnt work. Then it was time for time outs. It took about 4 weeks of being VERY consistent and that worked. It probably took another full month before there was no biting at all!

You just need to pick something and be consistent with it.

Biting them back does seem to work and I only ever did that to my older ones, but I just couldnt do the same to younger ones now that I found other disciplining techniques. If push comes to shove you have to do what is necessary. The mouth is such a dirty place and biting can spread so many germs.

Good Luck!

 

QUOTE(Dani J. @ Dec 13 2007, 10:22 PM) [snapback]533519[/snapback]
My DD started doing this around 2 out of frustration or anger. And the only recipient of her bites was DS. Poor thing was getting eaten up After time outs, talking to her, etc for the year that she did it on and off, I finally did something that has stopped it all together. Now I'm totally gonna catch some flack for this but for us, it worked. No one has ever bitten DD before, so she didn't know how it felt. One day she bit DS on his bare skin and almost drew blood. I reprimanded her and then bit her back. Not hard, just enough that she would feel it. She was upset, and said "it hurt" and we talked about how she didn't like that, and how she shouldn't do it to others. That was the last time she used her teeth for anything other than eating. I felt horrible for doing it, but it was my last resort.



My sister used to bite me ALOT growing up, though I don't remember. The ped told my mother to do this. She SWEARS that it is the only thing that worked. Ironically my vet told me to get a 2nd cat, so the 1st would have someone else to bite....I mean play with :winking0009: besides me....it worked. My girls aren't due till feb., but I would do the same as the above poster and my mom ! Sorry to all who feel it is "wrong" ( or find another biting kid for them to play with!)

 

"we will scorn the biter but go straight to the bitee and make a big deal consoling him! That worked for a while but now it's back-firing sometimes b/c whoever bit will see us oohhhing and aaahhhhing over the one bit and bite himself!"

Same here. We'll console Jordan and baby her, and Mackenzie will get mad and bite herself! Hopefully this is just a phase and will pass, SOON! Hopefully before their next well baby, so the docs don't see all the bruising!!

Me biting them won't work either. In the beginning of this "phase" it was Jordan chomping on Mackenzie and now it's the opposite. So they both do know how it feels!

 

Oh yeah, btdt and still doing that! Kenna has bit mitchell more times than I can count. One time she got him so many times on the back and they had their two year check up. The dr took one look at his black and blue back and gave me a look. I told her to take dental impressions and she would find the suspect. Kenna still bites on occasion..but now she knows she is doing a bad thing. We had to really give Mitchell a TON of affection when it happened and that really ticked Kenna off. She still bites when I can't get there on occasion (she actually has bit him through a diaper a couple times and left black and blue bite marks on his butt!). But at least its not as much anymore!

Hope they outgrow it soon!