Help! My Child Is Biting. What Can I Do?

Several times lately, I have been asked questions from moms in my private Facebook group about biting in toddlers. So, I thought that this would be a good topic to discuss for all of you. So, in today's video/blog post, I discuss some of the common reasons why older babies, toddlers and even preschoolers bite.

You can watch it here and I give a brief synopsis below: 

Some of the reasons young kids bite include: 

• oral stimulation needs or teething
• lack of speech and language skills
• frustration
• anger
• the need to protect themselves or their personal space
• being overtired/sleep deprivation
• temper tantrums
• overstimulation/overwhelm

In the video, I go over some of the things that you want to do in the immediate response to the biting. Such as: 

• Give a quick/firm response
• Have a short, "no biting" phrase 
• Remove attention from the child
• Shift attention to the hurt child
• Address the behavior quickly
• Help the child to move on

Remember the things that are not helpful or necessary to do include: 

• Do not lecture, shame or punish the child who has bitten
• Do NOT bite the child back
• Do not make the child apologize
• Do not make the children play together

Also in the video,  I talk about ways that you can prevent biting in the future.

Some of these are:   

Assess the situation and try to determine what triggered the biting. If you were not there, ask the adult who was present what was happening at the time the biting took place. 

Try to avoid or prevent those situations and  behaviors from happening again

Biting is best prevented rather than stopped. Knowing the triggers will help you to intervene and help the child to avoid behaviors and situations that cause him to feel out of control in the future. 

I wish that I could give you a one size fits all approach to biting. But, the cause of biting really depends on how old your child is and at what developmental level they are at the time. 

And what you do and how to prevent biting really depends on what that cause is. This is where you have to put your parenting detective hat on to figure that out. 

In the video, I have given you several causes to consider and how to handle and prevent the biting based on these. 

So, if biting has become a problem in your house, check out this video and see if you can spot what may be triggering your child. 

And if your child has not bitten another child, you may want to watch and see if you can spot any red flags that could signal potential problem areas that your child may face.

Prevention is a lot easier than correcting the biting behavior itself. 

Check out this video and let me know what you think. I would love to hear if these tips are helpful to you. You can hop on over to the Dream Baby Cafe Community Facebook group and leave your comments or send me an email @ [email protected].  

I hope you find this video helpful. I know how very stressful biting behaviors can be. But, try not to overreact. It sounds scary and it can be embarrassing that another child could be hurt based on something your child has done. Just try to keep it in perspective.

Biting is extremely common in childhood. And while we always take it seriously. It is not  a reflection of your personality or of your parenting skills.  Enjoy the video and let me know if you have questions, problems or concerns related to biting. Remember, as with most things in childhood, this phase is very short lived. You got this too!