I know he's really too young for discipline, but I need some help

[Logan's mommy]

My 13 month old has started biting. He'll bite anyone anywhere without notice. He bit ds1 hard enough yesterday that it bruised. I'm sure if he hadn't bitten through ds1's shirt it probably would have broken skin. I tell ds2 "We don't bite, it hurts mommy/daddy/ds1" but is there anything else I can do to curb this? Is it just a phase that will pass soon? Dh and I are pretty good a sensing when a bite is coming but ds1 isn't as good and so is often the one being bit. It's making him not want to play with his little brother. Help please!

[Shannie77]

My DD started hitting other children around this age. I basicallly did exactly what you are doing.. anticipate it to catch it before it happened, and if it did remove her from the situation and say "we don't hit, hitting hurts". I don't know if our approach worked or not but that phase was very short lived.

[bumblecat]

Well, from my experience working in day care centers, the young toddler classes always had at least one biter, usually 2 or 3 of them. It's the age. It's tough. It sounds like you're doing what you can do. There's not much else. If you think some of it might be due to teething, you can try making sure he always has something else to put in his mouth. But if it's just out of frustration, the phase seems to last until the child develops a better way to communicate that. Usually until they can talk a bit. We always just told them "Biting hurts" or something like that and redirected them and soothed the bitten one as best we could. Over and over. Sorry I don't have any more useful advice.

[JMJ]

I've dealt with this in daycare a lot too. Some kids are very oral. It might help to give him something that is easily accessable to bite, such as a bracelet, etc. It might also help to give some extra preemptive attention so that he doesn't have to bite to get attention and so that you can help catch it when it might happen. Don't blame yourself if it does happen, though. It can be really hard to be watching all the time. Just separate him from the situation, telling him that if he wants to bite, he can bite his bracelet/chew toy/whatever and then give your full attention to your son who was bitten.

[Logan's mommy]

I've been giving him a stuffed Pooh to bite.

I don't think he's biting for attention, he'll bite even when I'm focusing solely on him (while ds1 is at school, playing with friends, ect..) he screams at us when he thinks we're not paying enough attention to him

I'll keep redirecting him and hoping this phase passes quickly.

[boringscreenname]

My 14 month old DS bites me when he wants my attention. He'll toddle over to me, then put his open mouth wherever he wants to bite, raise his eyebrows and ask "Bite?" I just tell him "No biting, biting hurts", and it's usually enough.

Now he just comes over to me, shakes his head no, then asks to bite, so I don't know if he's getting the message or not. But at least he's polite and asks before he bites.

[nd_deadhead]

One of my twin boys went through a biting phase (more than the other). It is so common and so "normal" that when I took them in for their 15-month well-baby checks, their doctor took one look at the bite bruises all over J and said "Well, it looks like B's teeth are coming in nicely!"

One thing that sometimes worked for us was to say "Give kisses!" if we saw teeth bared for a bite, and couldn't reach them in time to pull them apart. It didn't always work, but preventing even a few bites made it worth the effort.

[octobermom]

Hes not too early to discipline that jsut means teach and its not punitive. When I could tell by LO was about to bite I'd place my hand under her chin nt hard just gently but this prevented her from opening her jaw to bite it protected me from being injured. A gentle but firm and matter of fact we don't bite people was given and then she was redirrected to something she could bite. Its pretty common stage some will have to deal with it more (such as having multiples) I wouldn't be overly concerned gently stop it redirrect it and now it too shall pass.

Deanna

[BeanyMama]

I agree with the pp that you can discipline at any age. The word has been distorted to be synonymous with punish but in it's really means to instruct or guide.

I would clearly say biting hurts! to mine with steady eye contact and offer a little toy that they can bite on instead. Teething make biting oh so wonderful, too