I have to be honest, I didn’t really have experience with having a child bite until my last.  It seems like there for a while he was biting a lot!

When Your Child Bites

• quickly remove the children (put your child in timeout)
• take care of the child who is hurt
• contact the parent(s) of the child who is hurt
• try to figure out why your child bit the other (teething or because they were angry)
• apologize to the parents in person or call (no texting or e-mailing) of  the child who was hurt

When Your Child is the One Who Has Been Bit

• stay calm
• try to understand that many children go through a stage of biting
• try not to get too upset with the parent of the child
• if it becomes habitual, don’t let that child around your child

Teething

If teething is the cause, there isn’t too much you can do, but here are some suggestions:

• do not react too much when it happens; sternly tell them “no” and then let it go
• keep a pacifier in their mouth
• keep teething toys handy  (some kids like vibrating, others like theirs frozen, experiment and find out what your child prefers)
• keep a close eye on your child when they are around others (don’t worry too much about the house!)

Anger

If your child bit because they were angry, you may have your work cut out for you.  Babies (under 18 months) don’t quite understand, older toddlers can reason a little bit more.  Here are some suggestions:

• sternly tell them “no, that hurts,” put your finger on their mouth and put them in time out EVERY single time it happens
• comfort the child who gets hurt
• explain to the child that biting hurts and is wrong and that every time they bite they will have to go to timeout
• brainstorm with your child appropriate ways to handle anger
• read books about dealing with anger

Our Experience

My youngest son went through a biting stage.  We are pretty sure it was due to teething, but it still upset me a lot.  The first time it happened, he was at Mom’s Day Out and bit one of our friend’s son.  He left a pretty bad mark (of course it was right before this little boy was going to turn 1, just in time for pictures; luckily the pictures hadn’t been scheduled yet)!  When I got to Mom’s Day Out and found out (they didn’t call because they knew I’d be picking him up very shortly), I picked up the little boy who got hurt and started crying.  His mom walked in and I started apologizing like crazy (and asking about pictures).  I even asked if she wanted me to call her husband to apologize to him.  (She thought it was kind of funny (especially that I mentioned pictures) that I was upset about it (but not in a rude way)).

Even though there had been some time that had passed, I went ahead and talked to my son.  I told him that what he did hurt and that it was an “Uh Oh.”

Even though I was trying to wean my son from his pacifier at the time, I went ahead and made sure that he had it every time we went to Mom’s Day Out.  He ended up biting a couple more times (the same child and then another one).  I don’t know if it was just coincidence  or what, but he stopped shortly after another child bit him.

Have you had any biting experiences?  Tell us about them!

Have any other suggestions?