1-Year-Old Biting Me For Fun?

[nathanieljoy]

Hi everyone! So, I work with 1- and 2-year-olds right now. There's this one boy in my room who is only 12 or 13 months, and he can't walk on his own or talk yet. He's a wonderfully happy and kind baby though. He loves everyone and is so smiley.

Lately, he's been crawling up to me, and, smiling happily, attempting to bite my legs through my pants. He's not doing it out of frustration or anger, he's doing it as though it was just as normal and fun as giving me a hug! I'm really perplexed by this.

Can this be considered normal? What can I do about it? Should I tell his parents about this? :confused:

[Ariana]

Sounds like he might be teething? You can give him an alternative to chew on and tell him “stop, that hurts”. I would see if he is doing this at home and ask them that they do not encourage it as he could start biting others. Best to nip it in the bud by showing him proper things to chew.

[nathanieljoy]

That would definitely make sense. I think I'll ask the parents to bring in a teething toy for him. Thank you!

[flying_babyb]

I wish you luck! I have this child. He will toss the toy, run up to me and bite me right in the thigh with a smiles on his face. I told mom, mom laughed.

[knoxmomof2]

My own 1.5 year old started doing this the other day. While she wasn't trying to hurt me and she was smiling, the behavior is unacceptable. I just tell her "no" firmly and set her down. It's undesirable behavior and they need to know it because it could escalate and then you have a full blown biter on your hands. I also followed up with Tylenol because I think she's teething, but I stopped the behavior immediately.

[CeriBear]

Like others have said this sounds like a teething issue rather than aggression. I’d just set this child down when he attempts to bite, say NO bite, and give him a teething toy.

[Pestle]

If he starts it again after he's done teething, it's very common for kids to bit when they're on the cusp of becoming fully verbal. They get aggressive and frustrated when they want to communicate but can't. For one kid, I put together a "bitey box" of differently-textured toys that his parents sent in: One firm but flexible, one hard, one soft. When I saw him get ready to go in for a bite, I'd say "Go get your bitey box!" and he'd pick out a toy and spend the next few minutes walking around with the toy jutting from his teeth like Winston Churchill with a cigar in his mouth. ::

[AmyKidsCo]

If he starts it again after he's done teething, it's very common for kids to bit when they're on the cusp of becoming fully verbal. They get aggressive and frustrated when they want to communicate but can't. For one kid, I put together a "bitey box" of differently-textured toys that his parents sent in: One firm but flexible, one hard, one soft. When I saw him get ready to go in for a bite, I'd say "Go get your bitey box!" and he'd pick out a toy and spend the next few minutes walking around with the toy jutting from his teeth like Winston Churchill with a cigar in his mouth. ::

I had a group of children who went through a biting stage so I put together a Biting Toys box and put a photo of a mouth with big teeth on it. When it's just one or two biting I sometimes attach a small teether to the child's clothing with a pacifier clip so they've always got something on hand.