my son he is 14 months now and he likes to bite, what can I do to teach my son Ivan to not bite

Leah - posted on 02/16/2010

my 15 month old son is very bad with biting and hitting at the moment. sometimes he'll bite or hit through anger if he's been told off or had something taken away from him, other times he'll just do it completely out of the blue. if he bites i pull a sad face and tell him that he has really hurt mummy and it's not nice to bite and ask him to kiss it better. i then encourage him to kiss or blow raspberrys rather than bite. with hiting i do the same but engourage him to sroke or tickle rather than hit. he still does it to me, but he is getting alot better. also his dad doesnt react in the same way i do when he bites/hits, he gets a bit angry and threatens to bite/hit back. but he still bites/hits his dad alot, alot more than he does to me so i believe my method works well with him. all babies are different tho, so maybe trying a few different things. i think i would leave biting them back as the last resort though because your their role model, so if you bite them its just showing that biting is okay. if you dont want them to bite then lead by example. it might take a while for them to realise that its wrong to bite but you'll get there eventually. x

Carolyn - posted on 02/07/2010

When my son was 2 he bit his cousin, I sent him to his room for half an hour. After I sat him down and told him how bad it was, that his cousin had to go to the doctor and made him feel really really bad. He never bit again.

Leah - posted on 02/07/2010

we are still nursing, and the biting is TERRIBLE! when my daughter bites now, i walk away and let her get angry, then come back in a few minutes to reassure her that its ok.

Carleen - posted on 02/04/2010

I say, "Don't bite it hurts." and put her down or away from me. I show her something she can bite. Now when she tries I just ask her to find something she can bite and she goes to the toy box and gets it and starts chomping away. It works...I love it :)

Emily - posted on 02/04/2010

Yes my son hits and bites. I have tried ever thing but time out, so that is the next steep. I will let you know if it works.

Jen - posted on 02/02/2010

I am having the same problem! I have tried the sad face and crying she laughs at me. I tried biting back she just did it harder! I tried the time out it made it worse! So I suppose the only thing that has had some effect is putting my finger in her mouth and pushing down till she gets upset. ( push chin to neck). A few times later she started to get the idea! But it is only temporary! She will start it again later only then she head-buts. Not sure what that is all about! I can only assume she is frustrated that she cannot communicate! So she makes up signs! So do I and hopefully we meet in the mittle somewhere!
Hope this helps!

Susanne - posted on 02/02/2010

When Oli bites me i pretent to start crying , i know it upset him, but so far it has worked and he has not biten since.

April - posted on 02/01/2010

My son started biting me also. I just made a sad face and pretended to cry a little and told him that it hurts mommy when he bites. For months i kept telling him to be nice (in a calm, happy tone) Now, when i tell him to be nice(even if it's when he's pulling a dogs tail, or whatever) he gives a big hug. It will take some time before they understand that it hurts when they bite. Also, he could be wanting to chew or bite because he's teething. I bought a pacifier type chewey. They have them at Walmart. Shaped kind of like a pacifier but it's made of a thick rubbery type material that you can freeze. Seemed to work for my son.

Clara - posted on 01/31/2010

I am an attached parent and believe in positive dicipline so for every no, I try offer two acceptable choices:
"No! Rosie cannot bite Esther. Rosie can bite the rubber duck or the cracker.

I stopped my 14 month old from hitting by asking to rather stroke mommies face, when she wants to hit. If she kicks, I asked her if she wants me to kiss her feet or count her tows.

Our little ones dont really understand punishment at this stage, so I believe it is better to offer them alternatives, sometimes they are trying to express an emotion, but they dont know how yet?

Amy - posted on 01/29/2010

Monkey see monkey do. If you bite him all that is teaching him is to do just that when he's upset. It works the same way with hitting, throwing, or anything else they can do that they shouldn't. When my son bites or hits us i say "nooo you hurt mommy" give a lil sad face so he knows i'm not playing and "be nice" very calm the whole time. When we say be nice when he's doing something wrong, he pets whatever he was "hurting"... kinda wierd but its cute lol. A time out at this stage is something they won't understand quite yet so all you can really do is enforce good behavior. They'll push buttons too, even when you're clearly not enjoying what they are doing. He'll understand you're emotions once they are shown enough. By showing pain instead of anger when he bites, he'll get that its something he shouldn't do.
It also could just be teeth coming thru, and they get the uncontrolable urge to bite something. In which case i switch out my arm for a paci or cool wet wash cloth for them to naw on. Good luck!

Carolyn - posted on 01/28/2010

my son is doing the same thing. i talked to his pediatrician and she says the best thing is time out. i havent had a chance to try time out with biting, but we've been doing the whole time out thing since he was about one and it seems to do the trick for other discpline. ive also heard of biting the child back, but that could also backfire and encourage them to bite you back thinking its a game (thats what happened with my nephew at least). good luck!

Jody - posted on 01/28/2010

My son bites every once in a while, ive been bit 3 times and my husband once, anymore and its a problem!!! My mom told me if he does it a few more times i will need to bite him back, sounds aweful i know. It will hurtthem and will hopefully get the hint the first time. when we were little my youngest sister bit me all the time so finally my mom told me to bite her back, we both cried but she never did it again. ive hear this a few times. Its best to nip it in the bud now. good luck