A 2 year old that bites. Help!

[TnKrBeLlA012]

I posted this before but I need advice again. My 2 year old can't seem to be around children because she will bite them. I can't trust her because she will bite without warning. I've done the time out. I have firmly told her no biting. I have even tried biting her back. (NOT HARD) No luck. She just seems to keep doing it. After she bites she will say,"No biting. Only dogs and cats bite. Not Isabella." She knows enough to say that. I'm at my end I just don't know what to do. Any one have this problem?

 

[Brandon79]

i was a terrible biter as a small child. i can actually remember an incident of biting an older cousin that used to terrorize me. actually ripped a hunk of flesh out of his arm & he wailed & rolled in the floor saying i'd killed him. mom says there's no way i could remember it because i was only around 2-- but i do. from what i can recall, it was always a feeling of fear & helplessness when i'd bite. guess i felt it was my only defense at such a young age, especially when defending myself against an older child. is it all ages of children your daughter is biting?

don't feel bad about not knowing how to effectively deal with this. my mom's a psychiatrist & she never managed to break me of it either. just grew out of it when i developed other skills of interaction.

 

[dg39]

I'm sorry, I can't give any advise. But, I do remember seeing an episode on Dr. Phil that addressed this very issue. I'm sure another poster will help you. But, just know, that kids do grow out of this stage.

 

[Beth76]

Originally posted by TnKrBeLlA012
I have even tried biting her back. (NOT HARD)

Maybe you need to bite harder. I know this method is questionable and should probably be used as a last result. But, biting her not hard isn't going to deter her at all. Is she actually biting you, or just other kids?

When I worked in child care (infants) we had a few biters. When it was really bad we would grab their chin and say, very firmly, "YOU MAY NOT BITE. THAT HURTS (insert name here). THAT IS NOT OK." Now when I say "grab" it wasn't forceful and it didn't hurt them. It was just to direct their attention to their mouth, so they knew we were talking about their mouth/teeth.

 

[ASFCurly]

2 year olds biting is very normal, but one thing we would do when I worked at the daycare is make a biting book with the child. We would cut out pictures from a magaazine with them, pictures of people and food and then glue them to a little notebook, and we would go through the book and say if we would bite it or not. We bite Brocolli, we bite pizza, we don't bite Mommy, friends, dogs, boys, that kind of thing.