Comments on: How Do You Stop A Child From Biting?

By: Melissa

Melissa — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:51:19 +0000

Thanks for all the advice everyone! Right now I am focusing on teaching Bekah to look for another toy to play with if Sariah has something she wants.

By: amber

amber — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 20:17:53 +0000

Sometimes kids bite when they are sick. Adam always would bite when he was sick. If my boys bite which is rare, I separate the biter and put them on a chair and say, “no you are in trouble!”

By: Angeline

Angeline — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:02:07 +0000

my elder one was a biter but he grew out of it in a month or two…we just scolded at that very instant while pointing to the bite which is usually bloody, to further emphasize our reason for raising our voice…

my niece is a biter too…my MIL bites her back!*laugh* of cos its not too hard, but good enough to cause some pain…her biting stops less than a month…

By: Esmeralda

Esmeralda — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 01:46:27 +0000

This is a touchy subject, I belive. This is my personal experience with it.

Maddy is not a bitter. She is, howevever, a victim of being bitten by one of her good friends. I did some research on the matter. I read online that parents need to discuss with their pediatritian if their children are over the age of 3 and bite, or bite a lot. It got to the point that her friend would bite her multiple times when they would play. Though my child wasn’t the biter, I asked our pediatritian. He advised that children who bite at this age do not bite because of teething. This is a form of communication for them. The child can’t say “I’m angry”, or “Hey, that’s mine.” So they bite. What you’re doing is what he recommends. Firm talking to. Let her know that biting hurts and is not acceptable. Use time outs.

He also recommended that you watch for signs. Does she bite when she’s mad? Tired? Irritated? Hungry? There can be cues she’s giving. Naturally, you are not always going to be there when this happens, but he advised that children that bite need to watched carefully for things that trigger. When you see Sariah has something and Bekah is getting angry, you can intervene. Direct her attention somewhere else.

Talking to our pediatritian helped me understand a lot, though Maddy doesn’t bite.

I hope this helps some. Good luck.

By: Kara

Kara — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:28:57 +0000

I’m sorry she is having a biting problem. I haven’t had to deal with that with my kids, just hitting. What I did for the hitting with Jason, since regular time-out wouldn’t work, was put his hands on time out. I held him in my lap and held his hands so he couldnt use them while explaining that hitting wasn’t nice and we need to be soft with people. He hated being restrained like that and it put a quick stop to the hitting. Maybe something like that could help?