Need help - I have a biter on my hands!

[Marisa6826]

Mia has taken to biting. Mostly only me (thank God). We've been trying the, "No biting! Mommy won't play with you if you bite!" and then I put her down. She cries for a few minutes and then goes back to playing.

She likes to bury her head in my shirt with a big open mouth. She doesn't bite crazy hard, but enough that it's unpleasant. I'm kind of wondering if she thinks she's giving kisses, because this usually happens when we're cuddling and giving kisses and hugs.

I've also recently caught her biting her shirt sleeve, and on one occasion, the dog and the couch. I know. VERY strange child.

Tonight she tried to bite my cast. That obviously hurt her more than it did me, so she stopped immediately.

As I said, she only does this to me 99% of the time.

Any ideas? We're working on verbal communication. She has a LOT to say. It's just that we don't entirely understand her yet. ;)

Insight?

TIA

-m

[ShanaMama]

DD went thru a phase of biting. I responded quickly & firmly: "No biting. If you bite you can't sit on Mommy." & when she bit me again a minute later, I'd say "No biting. Now you need to go down", and put her down on the floor. She was very insulted & would cry angrily, but after several weeks she basically stopped biting.
DD also bit me exclusively, so I really felt it was all about testing boundaries. I think the consistency & immediacy of your response is important, to show her that it's NOT acceptable.
My SIL had the same experience with her DD a year before I did, except she refused to react firmly (she doesn't understand when I say it hurts the ppl you bite). Needless to say, my neice was quite the biter- & the bully.
It's not easy being the parent of the biter, but hopefully you'll be able to nip it before it gets any worse.

[caheinz]

No chance that there's teething going on?

DS was more the bitee than the biter here. But on the handful of times he has bitten, it was me (once DH), and he needed something for teething pain...

And it's been a while. I'd say it pretty much stopped when he picked up enough words to let us know he was hurting...

[scoop22]

dh and i were just talking about this. he mentioned about squeezing the bottom of the foot. someone told us this once. i have no clue if it works. it doesn't hurt the child. he thought it was for hitting but it is for biting. good luck.. ds went through a biting phase but he only bit me. i think it was teeth. he no longer does it.
http://b2.lilypie.com/XbITm4.png

[Marisa6826]

She has all her teeth, so she can't hide behind that one! :)

-m

[SnuggleBuggles]

I posted Dr. Sears' tips for this over on the behavior board just a few days ago. Some of those strategies helped us. Unfortunately it seemed like ds just had to outgrow it...or we had to work hard to avoid triggers.

The line we used was, "No biting. Biting hurts."

Beth

[KrisM]

We did "no biting, only kisses" and showed him kisses. That seemed to work okay.

[dules]

I'm guessing you mean DS and not DH with the biting phase. :P


Mary