Biting

I have yet to figure to how to “get” a child to outgrow anything. They seem to do it on their own timetable. Between 2 and 3 biting, unfortunately, is a common occurrence because children lack the verbal skills to convey their feelings. Biting gets an immediate effect.

While vigilance must be your main response, here are some others to try:

Verbalize that biting is not acceptable.

Help your child to put words to the feelings that caused the action and try to give alternative responses he can use. (“hitting the pillow of the sibling”)

Hold your child’s jaw on either side of the mouth with the thumb and index finger and apply light pressure, while saying, if you want to bite, do so now.

Ask you child if she “wants to play the biting game”, in which she will get bitten back. (Some disagree with this idea so we offer it as an option, not as a solution.)

Is there something she can appropriately be denied (a toy?) if she bites again?

I hope this will help.

Vicki Lansky’s practical, common sense approach to parenting is familiar to millions throughout the world. Vicki’s first book, Feed Me, I’m Yours, published in 1974, and still one of the most popular baby/toddler food cookbooks in the country, was followed by The Taming of the C.A.N.D.Y. Monster, a #1 New York Times bestseller. Her other titles include: Toilet Training, Birthday Parties Best Party Tips & Ideas For Ages 1-8, Dear Babysitter Handbook, Welcoming Your Second Baby, Getting Your Child to Sleep … and Back to Sleep, Trouble-free Travel with Children, Baby Proofing Basics and Games Babies Play From Birth to Twelve Months, Koko Bear’s New Potty, A New Baby at Koko Bear’s House, Koko Bear and the New Babysitter, and Koko Bear’s Big Earache. Vicki Lansky’s Divorce Book for Parents: Helping Children Cope with Divorce and Its Aftermath