My Son Is a Biter

[Christina72684]

My son is 10.5 months old and has had 2 bottom teeth and 4 top teeth for about 2 months now, but he is constantly biting people. He bites everyone, but especially our 2 newest babies that are younger than him (and girls ). Do you think he's trying to show dominance? He bites me a lot, but not my husband which is really frustrating. He'll put his mouth on my upper arm and blow raspberries and then all of a sudden bite down and pull my skin, but when he's with my husband he just does the raspberries. Some of the times this happens when he's tired, so I get that. I just don't get why he does it the other times. I hate that the only biter among all 24 kids we have is my son

[Little Buttons]

Biting is normal, even if undesirable :-\ There are a lot of great articles and resources online. I typically handle it by giving the biter absolutely no attention following the bite. I very obviously tend to the bitten child/person/myself. Then in a calm yet firm voice tell the biter "Biting hurts people/friend...". At this age they are not quite capable of empathy so shadowing and prevention are your best options. Biting can happen for a multitude of reasons and not all of them are a result of anger or frustration! Another strategy you may want to try is giving your child something that he is allowed to chew on such as a teether or a wash cloth.

I know it is hard when your child is the one currently struggling with a behavioral problem, but our kids are just kids learning as they go too :-)

[TwinKristi]

Yeah my DS was the biter too...

Just gotta keep him separated from the younger babies for awhile until he stops. I hope your parents understand he's not some vicious monster but a teething baby learning his boundaries!!

[AmyKidsCo]

Biting is normal, even if undesirable :-\ There are a lot of great articles and resources online. I typically handle it by giving the biter absolutely no attention following the bite. I very obviously tend to the bitten child/person/myself. Then in a calm yet firm voice tell the biter "Biting hurts people/friend...". At this age they are not quite capable of empathy so shadowing and prevention are your best options. Biting can happen for a multitude of reasons and not all of them are a result of anger or frustration! Another strategy you may want to try is giving your child something that he is allowed to chew on such as a teether or a wash cloth.

I know it is hard when your child is the one currently struggling with a behavioral problem, but our kids are just kids learning as they go too :-)

At this young age I'd guess it's teething, experimenting with his teeth, and experimenting to see what happens when he bites ________. Babies cry. Dad does ________ (obviously not something he wants repeated or he'd bite Dad more), Mom does _______. I'd continue to redirect and have lots of teethers around for him.

I had a problem with slightly older children biting when their molars were coming in. I put out a basket of teethers with a label of teeth on it and kept redirecting them to it when they looked like they were going to bite. I've also put a teether on a pacifier "leash" for persistent biters.