How do I get my 2 year old to stop biting?

Question

He doesn't bite all the time and he usually just bites his siblings. I just don't want him to really get started on it. How do I stop him before he gets to involved with biting?

Answer 1

bite him back it usually always works, they dont know it hurts until you do it back to them!

Answer 2

Whenever my children use their mouth inappropriately and a firm no doesn't change the behavior I use a drop of soap or mild hot sauce/pinch of pepper. Just a drop. After two or three times this corrects the behavior. But it is a phase that alot (not all) of children go through and it may occasionally reoccur throughout the toddler years.

If your child is only biting his siblings it's probably more than teething. He's probably doing it out of frustration because he can't communicate that there is a problem. Or nobody is listening when he does communicate it. I have seen my two year old try to grab his brother and bite him because he has taken a toy from him. He can't exactly yell "Hey, jerk! Stop taking my toys away!". So he bites him to get his attention. After using soap to correct the behavior in the first place (he actually likes spicy foods so hot sauce is a treat for him! lol) he only does it when he's really tired. Maybe once a month or two. Then I know it's nap time.

Using mild hot sauce in very small amounts is not child abuse! How could you even begin to put it in the same category as whipping a child with a belt, locking them in closets, withholding food for days, not supplying adequate clothing, being left home alone for days, inappropriate sexual behavior or any of the other numerous ways that children die or suffer tremendously for years?? The people that cry child abuse for any form of punishment that isn't a firm no are the same ones that wonder what has happened to today's youth.

Answer 3

Just give it time. toddlers arnt bitting to hurt, its because they are teething. A good thing to try, is find some things for them to bite. let him know that those things are ok to bite. doing this its giving him a choice and you arnt just seeming to be a bad guy. Also, dont give it a lot of attention, otherwise it will probably happen more. When they bite hand them something to bite and tell him, "if you need to bite, you can bite this all you need". They will grow out of the stage once they are ready to. Also, I read someothers answers, and please do not bite back, because that just teaches them that biting is ok.

Answer 4

Biting back never worked with my son, so I started putting tabasco sauce in his mouth every time he bit me! It took a few times but he quit biting. It was only on occasion that he would bite after that and all I had to do was GET THE BOTTLE OUT OF THE FRIDGE and he would run! It's a good reminder!

Answer 5

Biting is a common behavior in most toddlers and increases when a child is tired or frustrated. You should never bite back or overreact when it happens. Toddlers like the reaction. You have to teach your child that it is unacceptable behavior. You could give them these steps:
Some steps to take when your child bites include:

Immediately look him in the eye and give him a loud and firm 'NO.' You may also move him to another area for a time out. Let him know that it is never all right to bite another person because it hurts.
Supervise your child closely when he is with other children, so that you can distract him or interrupt any behavior that may lead to biting.
It is important to not overreact and never bite your child back. Biting him back or using physical punishment will just reinforce that it is okay to hurt others.
Give him lots of praise when he controls himself and doesn't bite.
Biting back will only fuel his anger and cause aggression. Ignore all these dumb people that recommend to bite back. They obviously aren't educated on child development.
I studied this in school:
Children's hands are tools for exploring, an extension of the child's natural curiosity. Biting them back sends a powerful negative message. Sensitive parents that were interviewed all agree that the hands should be off-limits for physical punishment. Research supports this idea. Psychologists studied a group of sixteen fourteen-month-olds playing with their mothers. When one group of toddlers tried to bite another child. They received a bite on the hand; the other group of toddlers did not receive this form of physical punishment. In follow-up studies of these children seven months later, the punished babies were found to be less skilled at exploring their environment. Better to separate the child from the object or supervise his exploration and leave little hands unhurt. I retrieved this off of the child abuse site: Child abuse is physical -- shaking, hitting, beating, burning, or biting a child.

Answer 6

First of all, just know that this is a perfectly normal stage that all toddlers go through. He will get through it. It's just rough for the family. Though it sounds awful, the best way to get them to stop is to bite them back when they bite someone. Don't let his siblings bite him back....you bite him when he bites someone, anyone. Don't bring blood, of course. Just enough to show him it hurts. Be consistent. Don't spank him one time he does it, then bite him, then ignore it.....you know. Just bite him every time he does it. Trust me, it works. I remember my mom doing it to me two times....that was the end of my biting days. She did it to my sister. I now do it to my 3 year old. All my family and friends with children have done the same thing, and it works. don't hurt him bad, just show him it's not nice. And good luck....this is one of many trying stages they go through!

Answer 7

My two year old started biting at 18 months, at the time i put it down to teething. I informed the nusery of the problem when she started, and was told that it was a natural phase that all children go through. As i was working full time i left it to the nusery to take the appropriate action. And repeately came to pick her up to discover she had biten numerous times. The course they took was to tell her a firm NO and put her on time-out. But still the problem persisted. After a few months of the biting and failing with the course of action, i was told that she would have to leave the nursery as it wasnt fair on the children getting biten, which i can understand. I started to keep note of the what she was doing when she bit. I soon norticed that it was partly a relief on her teeth from teething but it was also when she became aggressive. ie when a child took the toy she wanted to play with.
As she was also biting our family we started to put a thin layer of musterd on our arms. And soon noticing she was put off. But the idea isnt practical enough to spreading siblings in musterd obviously, so i began put a tiny amount of musterd on her tounge each time she bit. It did deter her on occasions but the biting carryed on through aggression again. I evan brought her a toy to bite on but it still continued Over many months. The last course of action i tryed after being advised by many professionals not too, was to bite her back not hard, but enough so she could see what she was doing hurt. To many people who have wrote saying its abuse. Let me tell you there maybe many sastistics envolved in why you shouldnt bite. But at the end of the day you know whats best for your child. I didnt want to bite, But this was the only action that has worked, and im glad i did it as biting them back lets them understand that what there doing is hurting people, and with out feeling it for them selfs they would never know. Besides all of that how many adults can say the have been given a complex through being biten from the parents. And you never really need to bite them more than a few times for them to understand that there behaviour is not acceptable. And many people who where bit as a child often do the same as parents to there children why?......BECAUSE IT WORKS!

Answer 8

he is probably teething or is probably looking for something to munch on. I say u cut out this behavior immediately because it might grow with him. Just distract and play with him watch him around his other siblings. Could it just be that he is defending himself? you have to find that out. a firm voice and a spanking is all u need to get him to stop. after a while he will realize what the consequences of biting will be.

Answer 9

Don't stop him biting. it is natural. We all the human have the same tendency of biting in the early age. because when there was no knoledge of growing food we all used to hunt animals, sepeces whatever the eatable. in fact our teeth formation have the proof in the form of tearing teeth and biting teeth. But as we greduated to the family animals we started call us humans. So your little wonder is now in the company of humans and gredually he will definately learn to bite the food by observing people around him. so be care free and enjoy your own childhood in front of you, because no one remembers his/her own childhood.

Answer 10

My son started biting my younger son when he was born also. So, when he would bite I would take his arm and bite him back. Not hard though, just let him know it hurts and tell him why you are doing it. My son stopped after he understood why we didn't want him doing it.

Answer 11

When he bites tell him NO then separate him from the other children, then immediately shower the child that he bit with positive attention.

If you see it getting ready to happen intervene and show him an alternative, like if someone is going to take his toy tell him to "say no".