3 and STILL biting

[its_our_family]

Ok, so B wil be 3 in a few short weeks. He is still biting.

He bites if he is cornered and sometimes out of frustration with another child.

He typically only bites his brother but has reached to bite one child in preschool. We know what to watch for so we are ableto get him in less stressful surroundings.

I'm just not sure what to do abotu the biting. It isn't nearly as often but still.

[4evermom]

It sounds like you are doing what you can to minimize situations that cause it and he is growing out of it. The only other thing that I can suggest is to try to help him get as much sleep and food as he needs. My ds always had a much harder time handling himself when he was tired or hungry. He started biting when he was about 3 1/2 or 4 which was aggravating because it wasn't at all due to frustration or lack of verbal skills.

[Christee]

I feel for ya, biting sucks...I've heard the worst things from parents (out in public and in the family).

Just curious, have you had a hearing screen done to rule out any hearing loss?

My son was a biter from about 15 months old until he was 3 years old...come to find out, he had a hearing impairment from "uninfected" fluid in both of his ears and a ruptered ear drum that had never healed from an ear infection at one year of age. Although he appeared to hear us, his hearing was like hearing "under water". He had surgery to clean out all the fluid and ear tubes and he hasn't bitten anyone since then (been almost a year now). A complete turn around.

[its_our_family]

Hm, no his hearing has never been checked. I hadn't thought of that before.

[straighthaircurly]

My ds (3.5 yo) is the same way. His biting has certainly lessened as he has gotten older and he rarely bites other children now. But he still tries bite (usually me, his dad, or his teachers) if he is frustrated and/or tired . It is his first reaction, very impulsive, he doesn't even seem that conscious of it. We have worked very hard at encouraging a positive outlet, hugs and kisses instead of biting (as soon as I point out to him that he is trying to bite, he will now change it to a kiss). But I am discovering some sensory processing difficulties with him and I think this is part of it. Some days it helps him if I pull out one of his old teethers or give him something frozen to gnaw on.

[its_our_family]

He pretty much only bites when he is being bullied. With his brother, if he can't get out from under him or T takes something from him B will bite him.

It is almost like self defense or something.

[AngieB]

This may not make you feel much better right now but it will stop someday. My DS bit from about age 1 until 4 1/2 or so. We tried everything and nothing worked he just had to grow out of it. It sounds like you are doing everything you can and at least it's not very much. I stopped taking my ds around other children for about a year and a half because it was so bad. The on thing we did do, and I'm not sure if it was related or just all happened at the same time but we put him in speech therapy. Once he could get other children to understand what he wanted the biting seemed to stop.

[its_our_family]

He is pretty vocal about the "this is mine" "get off my truck" He learned well from his big brother!

[4evermom]

Originally Posted by its_our_family

He pretty much only bites when he is being bullied. With his brother, if he can't get out from under him or T takes something from him B will bite him.

It is almost like self defense or something.

Well, that sounds normal .

Have you read Raising Cain? It's about the emotional health of boys. Among other things, it points out that most boys have a strong tendency to hit if they feel threatened. It's certainly true of my ds and because he is still young, he isn't always accurate in guessing another's intention so he has hit kids that have made him feel threatened but who didn't actually intend him harm.

[all boys]

Only one of my kids has ever done the biting thing...
Iain was bitting for a bit before Camden was born and then for a month or 2 after...he used to pretend he was a crocidile and chase you to bite you.

About 3 weeks (right before his 3rd bday) ago he stared biting..mostly his older brother but DH and I too..if he doesn't get his way or if he and his brother are fighting over a toy. I think for him right now it is a frustration thing and also a way to try to be incontrol of the situation. We are responding to it consistently with statments of "no biting" and helping him to use his words to express what he wants or what he is upset about. We have also used time out. We try to be direct, concise and not give it too much attn as we don't want it to be the way he tries to get attn from us.

i may have to look into the Raisin Cain book ...sounds interesting...