Does anyone have any ideas on stopping a toddler biting?

Question

She is 21 months and only bites me - her mother. I have tried smacking her, she cries but still does it again. I don't want to bite her back as I think it makes it look like it's the right thing to do. I'm worried she will start biting other people or children. Thanks in advance. x

Answer 1

Stop retaliating by physically punishing her.  If she bites you, tell her firmly "No!".  If she does it again, put her in time out.  This will teach her more effectively that it is not the right thing to do.  Also, do not bite her back.  Why would you punish her by doing to her what she just did to earn her punishment?! You are right to say that makes it look like something that is okay to do.  She is a little girl, and little girls want to be just like their Mommies.  If you stop punishing her physically, she might stop biting you!

Answer 2

every time she bites, instead of smacking try flipping her in the mouth and tell her very sternly, NO, NO BITING! look her dead in her eyes when you say it. she is nearly two and should be able to understand what ur saying, if she can talk ask her does she want people to bite her and explain to her that its not nice and that it hurts people

Answer 3

When my son would bite his sister, we would say "uh oh, how sad you decided to bite."  We would then gently pick him up and put him in his room.   We left the door open so he could crawl out whenever he was ready (he was about 10 months old).  He always burst into tears when he ended up in his room (so then we had both kids crying!).  It only took him a handful of times to learn that every time he bit he ended up in his room and he stopped biting.  

Answer 4

MY SON IS 21 MONTHS OLD AND ONLY BITES ME AS WELL.  I KNOW NOTHING IVE TRIED HAS WORKED.  IVE ALSO BEEN TOLD TO BITE HIM.  I BEGINNING TO CONSIDER IT........

Answer 5

My daughter never had a problem with biting, but she used to spit on everything and everyone (in the car, in the house, and outside). It drove me and my hubby nuts! We tried yelling at her and putting her in time out and even just plain talking to her but none of it worked. The thing that did work for us though was hot sauce like Wasabi or Sriracha. Every time she would spit we pulled her aside right away and told her 'No no, spitting is bad. now you get hot sauce because you spit. if you don't spit then you won't have to get hot sauce in your mouth.' . We would then put a pea sized amount of hot sauce on the tip of our finger and put it in her mouth on her tongue and then she had to stand in time out for a couple minutes (she was just over 2 years old at the time). When she got out of time out we explained again that spitting is bad. Within a week she had stopped spitting because she didn't like the hot sauce. Best of luck to you, I hope this helps!

Answer 6

My 16 month old went through the biting stage and I finally only one time BIT HIM BACK!!! He never did it again. It works.

Answer 7

My son did the same thing.  He bit me so bad and caused a hugh place on my arm.  I had to go to the doctor and get him to open it and put antibiotics in it.  I was telling this at work and a older woman pulled me aside and said that her child did the same thing until she bit him back.  so the next time I did it.  I bit him back.  As far as I know he NEVER bit anyone else again.  I know it sounds harsh but i tried everything.  Spanking, time out etc.  Nothing worked

Answer 8

i dont know how to stop it but we all do it, we "nibble" the childs cheek,neck,stomach, so the child sometimes does it for the same reason we do it.... so smaking wont help...thats just my idea...