Help! Anyone ever deal with a bitting toddler?

I am in dire need of some good sound advice! What do you do when a toddler bites? I have friends staying with us for a few months, and their youngest daughter (23 months) is a terrible bitter. She has bitten both my babies (15 months and 21 months) a few times since she has been here. (5 weeks). She only bites them when an adult leaves the room. We have tried to keep an close eye on her but sometimes, there is reason to leave the room (bathroom) etc... What oh what should we do?

As much as it is a hassle you will have to "shadow" the biter at all times. That means follow her everywhere, esp if she is with the other little ones. If she happens to get a bite in anyway, first off lavish loads of attention on the child who got bit, ignoring the biter. Than remove the biter from the area, tell her "no biting" and having her sit in a time out area for no more than 2 minutes (she won't be able to tolerate more). If she continues and you can't shadow her at a certain time, she will have to either come along with the adult so not to be left to temptation or confined for a short time in a crib or playpen until you can return (its only for a few minutes so its not going to traumatize her and will help save the other ones from getting bit). Try giving her other things to bit on too, maybe she is getting her 2 yr molars...probably though it is just a phase.

Boy oh boy do I deal with this problem!!! I have five daughters the youngest being 23 month old twins- these two are big time biters!!! They bite each other ,the older siblings and at times have tried to bite me! Unfortunately the only thing to do at this point is tell them "no" in a firm voice and possibly sit them down on the floor and make them stay for 2 minutes "time out" . This biting phase does pass in time once they realize no one wants to be around a biter and they will get tired of being "avoided" by the other children. Good luck! I haven't been to the bathroom alone for 7 years- I don't even bother shutting the door anymore- and the worst part of it is sometimes I forget to shut the door when we have house guests! How embarrasing!

Well I have a grandson that bites all the time, his brother, mother, father, aunts, uncles, who ever he can get to. And I tell you the time out and the saying no has not worked and he has been doing it for nearly a year now. So we have resorted to the old method of doing to you as you do to me. That might not be the best way by todays standards but it has helped. He now only bites if he gets really mad at you and mostly its his little peers that he takes it out on. So we are still working on that by doing it the same way plus we have added hot sauce to the mix and he has slowed down even more. So we do say the no, we do the time out and we also do the old ways. And it is helping. So no I am not trying to upset anyone but sometimes the old ways aren't always bad or wrong. Good Luck I hope you find a solution for you.

I guess I have been lucky so far. My 23 month old bit me hard on the breast once and I yelled at pushed him away. Then he went for a long period of time and we were snuggling with his head on my shoulder and he took a big bite out of my shoulder and again I yelled and put him down on the ground. My husband made a big deal out of asking me if I was okay and we sort of ignored Devlin and he must have learned his lesson. He still puts his mouth on me or inanimate objects when he is really frustrated, but he doesn't bite down. What I have read indicates they all do it. I did have to resort to the "old fashion way" when it came to hair pulling. I really don't think he understood it hurt. I only had to do it twice, not hard enough for him to even cry or anything and he looked at me puzzled each time and has not done it since. We do what we can.

Hi Deborah, When my son started biting as a toddler a friend suggested giving him something to bite on when he feels the need. We bought a ( don't laugh..lol) hard dog "pacifier" and tied it to a belt loop on his pants, around his waist, whatever, and explained to him how when he felt like he needed to bite this is where he could do it. After a couple of weeks he did not need it anymore and the biting had stopped. Good luck. Jenny