Biting

[bellydance2290]

My dd is 20 mths old and has recently started biting her friend. I've just started watching a neighbors dd who is 26 mths and they love each other. Today, Ivy was horrible though. She bit her 5 times - every time she was wanting the toy Izzy had. She also gets really frustrated and will bite her own hand or her sleeve or her baby doll/toy. It's like she gets so frustrated that she just can't take it anymore.

I just worry that she needs help to deal with her frustration. I talked to her about it each time but it's like she zones me out and isn't really paying attention.

Any suggestions on what to do?

[nelson]

I would try to figure out her triggers, and stop her before she bites. 20 month olds don't always listen to long winded reasoning, just a firm, "we don't bite, you can ______," should suffice if it seems like she is tuning you out. In my opinion, 5x in one day is way too much. I would have been very upset if I was the other child's parent. You need to stick to her like glue until this passes.

[bellydance2290]

I agree. I did tell her "we don't bite our friends" numerous times and had her say "sorry" (which she never said but also has never said) and hug, but it was like every time I turned my head for 30 secs, she would bite her. Always if she had a toy my dd wanted. Tomorrow I am going to try to catch her before she does it and hopefully that will work. The other Mom doesn't know that my dd did that, I haven't spoken with her. She does know that she bit her the other day while we were both with them. I'm thinking it might be because I am watching both of them and she isn't just with Mommy anymore? I am pretty upset about her behavior myself.