1 year old biting constantly

[DoJo]

Hi all, I'm hoping someone has some advice which will help me!
My one year old has been going through a biting phase for about six weeks now, and I'm finding it very difficult to teach him to stop. He will come up and bite me on the leg, bite my face or shoulder whilst I'm holding him and even as I try to put him down he will be twisting his head to try and bite my arms. I know he doesn't mean to hurt me, but he has got really sharp teeth and I'm covered in bruises.

I have tried just saying 'no' and 'don't bite' firmly and moving him away, but this makes him laugh.
I have tried an exaggerated 'OW!' and this makes him laugh too.
I have tried 'crying' loudly with a very sad face and this made him cry too the first few times which I thought was getting through to him, but after doing this about 4 or 5 times he now just looks at me, laughs and carries on.
I have tried sitting him on the floor and ignoring him, but he just carries on playing.

I have tried giving him something else to bite on, but he just throws it on the floor and comes back at me with his teeth bared.
Admittedly I haven't persevered with any of the remedies which have just made him laugh as there didn't seem any point, but I have tried to be consistent with the ones which seemed like they might work, however nothing really seems to have had any impact at all.

I'm sure there is something I haven't tried but it doesn't feel like it at the moment! He's such as sweet boy most of the time, but between the biting and the fairly standard failure to appreciate that faces need to be touched gently, I sometimes feel very abused by the end of the day!

Thought you might like this

Thanks JJJ - there are some useful tips there, but they seem to be aimed at slightly older children. My son is only just 1 (13 months yesterday in fact) and just doesn't understand reasoning or time outs just yet.

I've used time out that young but only for extreme things like biting.

Really? How do you enforce it? I have tried sitting him on his own, but he just sits there and plays with his feet etc having a lovely time. If he gets up and I put him back again, he finds it hilarious! If you have any tips for making it work, I would really appreciate it.

Mine have just not liked being put in the hall and me shutting the living room door, but if yours is ok with that then maybe it won't work yet. We're there any other suggesting in the article that might work?

Ha ha - unfortunately, any time when we aren't watching him like hawks is considered super fun as far as he is concerned as it gives him a chance to do the naughty things that he loves to do, whether that's trying to eat woodlice or twiddling the controls on the radiator . I do like the idea of redirecting the behaviour, as I think that will help with my frustration as well as the biting. It definitely helps to remember that he's just learning as well - he bites me WAY more than he bites his dad so it's easy to feel a bit picked on, so I'm going to focus on the communication aspect of it rather than the constant bruises! Thanks for the pointers - hopefully I will crack this before he does it to someone else and really gets us both in trouble!

Firstly both mine went through this - it hopefully is a phase and will pass. I very quickly picked them up and deposited them elsewhere and walked off - obviously I did not do this in busy open public

Sorry posted too early! Obviously I didn't do this in public places where they could escape - just be firm and consistent and they'll be in to the next thing to worry about before you know it. Good luck

I think it's the consistency that's difficult, because something will seem to work, like the crying, then then he'll just change his reaction so it feels like it's back to square one. It's just unfortunate that it's all happening at a point where I can't really ignore him effectively, even for a minute, as he's so good at finding mischief to make as soon as my back is turned!