biting

[scoop22]

ds doesn't have many teeth but let me tell you he has a grip. i have read things on kids biting when they are frustrated but ds seems to do it when he is excited. any suggestions? he doesn't do it all the time but he does it. i often wonder if his teeth are bothering him. i am sick of blaming things on him teething. i tried to search for this. i have such a hard time finding things under the search.
i want to stop this asap. he goes to a babysitter and i don't want anything to happen to anyone. TIA
http://b2.lilypie.com/XbITm4.png

[almostamom]

We went through this when our DS what about the same age as yours. Everyone told me it was a stage and it would pass. They were right. Sometimes he bit out of frustration, other times - well, who knows why. One time he bit down on my arm really hard and I couldn't get him to let go until I plugged his nose!! For us, the phase ended when he was around 19 or 20 mos. FWIW, he NEVER bit anyone except DH or myself. When I knew he was becoming frustrated, I would try to give him something that it was okay to bite down on (pacifier, teething ring, etc.)

We met with a preschool director around this time to see if the school was a good fit for DS and were very honest about DS and biting. She was very understanding, explained her procedures and how she would handle the situation should it arise. My point is, let the babysitter know that this is happening so she will be prepared to deal with it if it does.

HTH,

Linda

[newnana]

We have a 17 month old biting DD. For her it is a phase thing. We hate to blame it on teething, but the only time it occurs to her to bite is when she is. Thankfully, she now has all 20 baby teeth.

We have talked to her DCPs and Director numerous times about this to make sure we are being consistent at home and DC with DD so that she is always getting the exact same reaction (the director's suggestion). Even though we knew it only happened when DD was teething, that never made it okay. Especially because DD will bite so hard her head will vibrate.

The director was an immense help explaining this to us and one of the reasons she gave was that it just feels good and some kids will keep trying until they get to bite something, that it is a need. That ended up being DD, so when she is in one of those phases there is one specific toy that she has at DC and at home that she is allowed to bite and it is always available. For us this helped immensely. It would never occur to her to go for it, she would have to be redirected to it, but still, it kept her from biting others.


When her teeth are really bugging her (molars), the one thing that worked best for her was a really cold-almost frozen, washcloth. Nothing else would do.

I would love to tell you that one thing we did worked, but DD seemed to need to bite. It was awful. The few times she chomped on a kid at school, DH and I were sick about it and couldn't imagine being the other parents. We worked so hard to get her to stop, but for us it's not about anything we did, and more about when she isn't teething. It was really rough.

Good luck and hope you get some better advice than this!
Michelle

[scoop22]

thanks for the posts.. i did talk to the babysitter about the biting. She hasn't seen any of this. I hope he stops. He didn't do it at all yesterday. He usuually only bites me. Not dh. Maybe it will only be me and that will make me feel better about sending him out and about. thanks again

http://b2.lilypie.com/XbITm4.png