Help! Biting!

One is a biter, what to do?????? if you suggest time out, how do you do timeout w a 20 month old that wont stay in place?

 

Can you determine a pattern when biting occurs, which situations trigger biting? Whom does the baby bite - his or her twin or you or other children? My response would depend on these things.

As a general rule at that age I would concentrate on finding out which situations make biting likely to happen and then watch baby closely to try to avoid the situation, step in with a distraction or new activity, or remove the baby from the situation before biting happens.

If you think teething might be causing the biting try to give baby an object it is allowed to bite, e.g. a lovey, a teething ring etc. Then when you see the urge to bite coming say "we do not bite people (or insert name), but you may bite this" and hand them the object.

Personally, I do not think time out works for a 20 month old although I agree that in general biting is among the behaviours that trigger a TO. I would rather work with the baby to apologize and make the "victim" feel better, so show them to stroke the bitten place, get a coldpack from the fridge, get a favourite stuffed animal.

 

My girls are 26 months old and I have one that used to bite all the time. We started time outs around 19 months and the first time I had to put her back at least 40 times. After she realized I wasn't going to give in she stayed put and has ever since. The biting just about stopped after that. I do 2 minutes for time outs and when they are done they are told to hug and say sorry to their sister, they don't always do it but most of the time they do.


Consistancy is key and as the PP suggested, watch for times of the day or certain situations it happens in. My DD would do it ALOT when she was tired.

 

Thanks for the info.- I just logged on to ask the same question- my twins are 18 mo. and my mellow child is the one who bites out of frustration b/c her sister wants everything she has. Need to nip it in the bud b/c she really hurts. Sometimes when I reprimand her saying, "no biting, it hurts," she just laughs and makes the motion like she's going to do it again!! I'll try and monitor more closely and intervene before it happens.