Biting

Ever since he got bitten by a girl at daycare a few months ago, Declan's been biting more and more often. His target of choice is DH, who has bite marks all over his chest and arms. Decky rarely if ever bites me, and has tried to bite Ronan only a few times (Ronan smacked him and that was that ). We've tried a lot of different things--gentle "no, let's use our gentle touch", stern "we don't bite Daddy", and now we're onto short timeouts. Part of the problem is that a lot of the advice I read on the web is for kids who are angry biters--they bite when they get mad. Decky only bites when he's really happy--he does it when he's excited and playful--so I feel really bad giving him time out when he thinks he's just playing around.

Any suggestions? Anyone going through the same thing? Hoping someone out there can help--DH adds his plea, since he's the one with the bruises all over.

 

I have no advice, but just wanted to say I feel your pain. One of my DS has been biting his brother and we are at a loss as to what to do. We have tried everything, so I am interested to hear what others suggest.

 

Liberty has bit me a couple times, and always when she's excited and playing. The only thing I've done is tap her mouth with my finger (so she knows exactly what she did wrong) and tell her sternly "NO, we do not bite!" So far this has worked for us, I haven't been bitten in a few months. I hope you find something that works.

 

I'm assuming that your DH is usually holding him or playing on the floor when he bites, seeing as you said the bites are on his chest and arms.
What I would do is tell him firmly "No. We don't bite people." and then immediately put him down or stand up and step away from him. I'd wait about a minute without giving him attention and then redirect him to a different game. Hopefully it won't take long for him to make the connection that biting=end of the game. Also if you play any games that involve pretending to eat them, blowing raspberries on their tummies etc you might want to pull those back and not play them so much until he can make the distinction of using/not using teeth.

I remember a post from a little while ago about a series of books that included the title Teeth Are Not for Biting. I haven't read it so I don't know how good it is, but you could give it a try.

 

QUOTE(Twin nanny @ Nov 29 2007, 09:20 AM) [snapback]513379[/snapback]
What I would do is tell him firmly "No. We don't bite people." and then immediately put him down or stand up and step away from him. I'd wait about a minute without giving him attention and then redirect him to a different game. Hopefully it won't take long for him to make the connection that biting=end of the game. Also if you play any games that involve pretending to eat them, blowing raspberries on their tummies etc you might want to pull those back and not play them so much until he can make the distinction of using/not using teeth.

I remember a post from a little while ago about a series of books that included the title Teeth Are Not for Biting. I haven't read it so I don't know how good it is, but you could give it a try.


Thanks so much for the suggestions--we'll try that and hope that things improve!