Parenting Toddlers (1-3) Support Group

This community is focused on the joys, challenges and concerns faced by parents of toddlers (1 to 3 year olds). The major areas of child development include: physical development, perception and sensory development, communication and language development, cognitive development, emotional development and social development. Join to share your stories and get advice.

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joleneLS 12/05/2011

Marlow never bit. Her cousin went through the biting stage and used to use her as her chew toy (up until she gave him a fat lip :( ) and she used to get so upset, yelling "No bite! No bite!" everytime she saw him.

Over the last month though she has decided its chow time. She bites EVERYTHING and EVERYONE. She bites her clothes, other peoples clothes, the laundry basket, other people, her own arm, the door, chair bottoms, she tried to bite the Christmas tree last night!

She is 27 months, and she is a late teether. Her eye teeth all came in at the same time, and they are only about half way through still. Her 2 year molars are no where to be found yet. All her other teeth are there, and two of them are chipped, no idea where that happened, but only slightly. Like you wouldn't notice unless your face was in her mouth.

I'm starting to get to the breaking point with biting. I have used time outs, "groundings" (she has to stay in her room for 15 minutes), I have even bit her back! But she knows it hurts as she seems to bite herself hardest of all.

Should I be worried about her teeth? Or is this just nasty two year old behaviour? And how oh how do I break her of it???

deleted_user 12/05/2011

I don't know how to break her off but I wonder if it could be her 2 year molars coming in. Can u talk to her? My son's 33 mo and I can ask him if something hurts and most times his replies are consistent with the truth.

joleneLS 12/05/2011

Oh yes...she communicates loud and clear lol. But she tells me her mouth feels good. and she is usually pretty good at letting me know where it hurts. she sure let me know.when her eye teeth started to cone! Today she bit herself so hard she bled! And she bit a nerf ball.so hard she ripped a chunk out.

deleted_user 12/05/2011

The 2yr and canine molars seemed to b the worse for mine. He was a biter from 1 yr to 2. Knock on wood , his 2nd yr molars r here and hasn't bit in a week.

We had a time with biting other kids @ daycare. Nothing really worked. I do reward for no bites with a sticker. I'm sorry, I know its so frustrating.

Wyatt0712 12/06/2011

My 2 yr old went thru the biting stage twice once when he was about 15 months old. The second time we broke the habit in about a two weeks time. When I worked in childcare for a while, I took a class just over biting. Wish I had made the potty training one. (lol) Toddlers explore orally. Even with the ones that communicate well they can bite when overwhelmed with their environment, out of boredom, exploring different texture, lack of communication for those who cant speak well is out of frustration, a cry for attention, hurting mouth and the list goes on. One solution we were told (and worked) was to offer more challenge foods/snacks at the table. If overwhelmed pull them aside, calm them and redirect their attention. If out of boredom provide them something else to do. If nothing else, not that you dont already, spend more of one on one time (even if its an extra 15 mins a day) doing things with them. I dont know if any of this might help, Sometimes you just have figure out the base of the problem. and find a solution that works for you. What works or worked for another might not be the same for you and your child. Good luck! I hope you find the answer your looking for.

HopefullySomeDay 12/06/2011

My DS is 21 months old and has been thru 2 biting stages so far. They have both been teething related. The first time he would bite himself and once another child at daycare. The second time he would bite almost anything he could get into his mouth.

For us the only thing that worked to get him to stop was to ALWAYS have something in his mouth. A paci, cold teether, food of some sort, etc...

Can you try giving her cold teethers to just carry around so when ever she feels the need to chomp down she can safely do so on that? Good luck and I hope the stage ends soon!

deleted_user 12/07/2011

Biting I think is really one of the most frustrating stages to go through. My little guy really went through this and no one or nothing was safe though he did take a particular fancy to his cousins big toe! We tried everything but eventually he grew out of it. I really feel this was a combination of things, I suppose he got some sense and we had remained consistent though at times it was hard. He also replaced the habit with another one which I think is usually the case. The last time he bit me funnily enough, we were sitting reading. He leaned over for no reason and went to bite me almost in slow motiin. I made the split second decision to not react though it was hard and hurt. He was shocked that there was no reaction and as far as I know this was the last time. So perhaps for him it was about the reaction and when that was removed he gave up. Good luck with it and hang in there.

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