[ilovefelix]

Our 1 year old son is biting my husband repeatedly at bedtime. He has bit me off and on when nursing since about 3 1/2 months. I tried different things and never have been able to get him to stop. After the bedtime routine my husband puts on his sleep music and starts to rock him. Tonight he bit my husband FIVE times on the shoulder, collar bone & chest! My husband has red and purple bite marks. Ouch!! When he bites we tell him a firm "No. That hurts mommy/daddy" Then he starts to cry for a bit and then settles down. Then bites again! Has anybody dealt with this? Any ideas?? Help??? What would be the GD way of handling this?

 

[Tsubaki]

One thing we have tried is immediately showing him a toy he can bite. It's hard to know how much they understand at that age, so we demonstrate biting it for him and say, "We never bite people. Ow! This is for biting. Bite this." This seems to interest him and he often bites the toy.<br><br>
I don't think it completely solves the problem, though. When he's bitten me really hard when nursing, I've resorted to leaving the room (my husband goes in to be with him instead) and saying, "if you can't stop biting, I have to go away now." He cries and cries, but it seems effective. I have mixed feelings, since I hate hearing him so upset and it feels punitive, but I can't go on nursing him if he's going to bite me so hard I bleed, so that's that.<br><br>
Good luck. Remember, also, that it's very very normal and will almost definitely be a distant memory before long, no matter how you handle it.<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/winky.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Wink">

 

[Tdunahoo]

We're having the same problem with my DS. I've noticed that he bites more when he is overtired (always at bedtime, not during the day) so I have been trying to start the bedtime routine earlier and it has helped (a little). What I've found to be the most helpful is when he bites I put him down (he always bites me when I hold him) and say ouch you hurt mommy and then I don't respond for a few seconds while he's crying (no more than 5 or 6 seconds) he will usually do it once more and I repeat and after that hes really gentle. I've only been doing this for a week but its been MAJOR improvements.<br><br>
I was getting bit 5-6 times a night every night and now I am only getting bit 2-3 times a a few nights a week. I'm hoping that the more I do this the better it gets. Good Luck I feel your pain!

 

[ilovefelix]

Thanks guys. We'll put some advice to the test!<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/thumb.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="thumbs up">