Biting

[kez31]

Hi my 20 month old little boy has started biting, he will bite me his dad and his 7 month old brother. when i tell hi NO he just laughs and will try to do it again. really need some good advice mums

I'd try telling him what you do want him to do rather than what you don't - and you'll need to show him. So 'biting hurts: touch gently' and get his hand and show him how to touch gently.

Or you could offer something for him to bite. When my DS bites, I tell him it hurts and he should touch gently, then offer him something like a spoon (or anything safe I have handy) to bite on, so he knows that if he wants to bite, he can - just not people.

My dd was exactly the same, she even bit a couple of children at nursery which i felt awful about. I used to say 'no, biting hurts' then ignore her and give loads of attention to whoever she had bitten. I just did this every time and then one day i realiesed that she hadn't done it for ages and i guess she just grew out of it. It is just a phase thankfully but it's horrible while its happenning.

With my daughter I found during the biting stage if she did it I would put her down immediately. She seemed to understand that and was really young. It wouldn't help if it was his brother he was biting though. I think they all have this phase to a more or less extent. It's when they are biting at 6 it is time to worry.