AIBU to not bite my child?

[Charmtaste]

I have twins who have just turned 2. One bites the other constantly. There does not seem to be any malice involved, they will be playing nicely and then one bites. Unfortunately the bitten twin is often covered in nasty bites. He is becoming quite traumatised by it all. I give the bitten twin a lot of attention when he is bitten and ignore the biter. When I have tried to discipline the biter, through time out or shouting he just laughs.

I have asked my HV for advice and she said the biter would grow out of it.
The pharmacist suggested keeping the bitten twin topless and slathered in sudocrem so that he tastes bad to the biter!

Everyone else, my mum, MIL, playgroup ladies, childminder etc says I should bite the biter every time. I just can't bring myself to bite my child. It seems barbaric but on the other hand the bitten twin is in pain.

YANBU: Do not bite your toddler
YABU: Bite your toddler

My brother was a biter and it was causing real problems on play dates etc. One day a friend's mum phoned my mum and said she had to collect him as he'd bitten her son and drawn blood. My mum brought him home and bit him. He never did it again. He's such a lovely young man now!

Only skimmed the thread and maybe going against the grain but have you tried hugs?

I had an 18month old who used to bite their peers and the newborn. Our tactics where to always hover to intervene and then hug the biter and say

what is it you want to say/do you want to be with mummy etc

Our nursery setting also just moved them away from any situation and repeated 'teeth are for eating'

Don't punish or go for outdated time out. Sounds like time in is needed.

It stopped very quickly and we didn't have to assault our toddler!

I think you've gotta be firm and hard in teaching the biter not to bite. It's incipient bullying. I know a pair of twins where one consistently bullied the other all through their childhood. He'd hit him, destroy his things, and was desperately jealous of everything his twin did or had. Fortunately, Twin 2 was charismatic and popular and had lots of friends. Now adults, they still don't talk though. Nip it in the bud OP.

When my DD was 2 she started to bite me. I used to put her on the floor or move her away from me and say no biting very firmly, then explain that biting hurts, it makes people unhappy etc. I would then give her a teething toy and say if you need to bite then only bite this. After 2 or 3 times of being moved away from me it worked. Calm and firm and no attention is the key. My mum is another one that said I should bite them back (I have 4 older children), and I never did. I thought the same as you, that it is totally barbaric. I don't understand how biting your child teaches them its wrong to bite! That will just confuse a child- you can't do something that I'm doing to you?! Children learn by example! 🤦‍♀️🤷‍♀️