How do i stop my 2 year old from biting me and my stepson?

Question

i have tried timeouts, yelling at her, telling her no, taking things away from her, adn i have tried tapping her hand when she does it and i cant stop her ...what should i do?

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

Hopefully she will outgrow it. I think it is a way to get attention and exert force. 2 year olds are not the most verbal yet at telling you what is upsetting them or what they want. Sometimes it may even be a way of GIVING attention. In spite of your attempts to get her to stop she still may not get the fact that it is not a good thing.

I agree with everyone who said patience. I disagree with everyone who said bite back. That doesn't give the right message. the kid is thinking, hmmm, you bit me and it hurt but still, it MUST be okay to bite then. You are the Mommy and you did it, too, so you must know. Don't bite back.

I like the time outs or removing her from where it happened, too. And remember, if you didn't actually see it there may be a reason why she bit your stepson. Defense mechanism. Retaliation.

When you are two you think you are the only one who is right. Everything is yours even if it isn't. If you were playing with a toy and you put it down it is still yours. Even if it was last week.

My daughter has three girls 11, 4, and 1 and she baby sat two girls all summer ages 2 and 5 and the 2 year old did bad stuff until my daughter made her understand it was unacceptable by telling her she needed to use words not bad actions to get her message across. it worked eventually.

Oh, and by the way. I am 59, I was a "biter' and I turned out just fine! :o)

Answer 3

I agree with others that have answered your question...be patient. She will get through this. My son went through this when he was about 18 months. Nothing seemed to work until my sitter made a suggestion...crushed red pepper. I thought it sounded terrible, and she didn't like it when it was advised to her, but it works. The next time my son bit he received ONE, SMALL piece of crushed red pepper on his tongue. After that it only took being consistent one or two more times before the biting completely stopped. He is now three and has not bit in well over a year.

Answer 4

Patience is huge! One of my twins bite another girl at daycare and I was horrified. He later bite my other twin. I said "NO" tapped his mouth and his hand and did the "time out" thing. I even called the peditrician. He said tell him NO and take him out of the room every time it happens. I read on the internet to tell them "We do not bite". I also try to watch at all times and catch it before it happens. After about a month he finally (cross my fingers) has stopped. Hope that helps!

Answer 5

my mom has 6 kids my the two under me went though this. i got so bad she was told by the doc the only to brack it was to have the other child bite her back. my lil sister bit the other about 15 times mom did time out took toy tv it all nothing worked till the last time she had the other one bite back. my lil took and chunck out the other ones back mom had her bit her back she never did it again. my child went though it about 5 months ago it broke my heart but i bit her back not hard but hard enough she know it. my lil sister had to be taking to the er the last time my other sister bit her that what made me deside to do it. i was about 9 then and i am 23 now with my on 3 year old. i hate to say but it the only was to brack this habbit or your going to end up like my mom was in the er. my child hasn't bit sents.

Answer 6

Be patient and consistent. I tauvght a child who had this issue. We did the big fat "NO" and then sat him in time out for a minute or 2.
It took time, but he finally stopped. You just have to make sure that whatever punishment you choose, you stick to it. Don't keep switching back and forth.

Answer 7

Put a very hot baked potato under you sleeve. Hold it close and when the curtain climber takes a bite it will get a big surprise and will think twice about biting again. Works real well on horses also.

Answer 8

The same way you stop a 2 year old from doing anything-you tell her no and if she don't get it then bust her in the mouth.

Answer 9

I know it sounds awful, but bite her back. I did it to 2 of my own kids and one friends kid (with her mom's consent). Worked the first time and changed their minds about biting for good.

Answer 10

Bite them back. Evenually she will stop biting. I had to break my two year old son from that habit also!