Biting

[sowhatusernameisnttaken]

Has your child ever bitten another child or been on the receiving end of it? Is it widely accepted this is just what kids do? How did you handle it?

Is this something you are experiencing sow?

My 18 month DD is aptly named 'piranha' at the moment. Myself and her brother are the main victims. His left buttock was bitten this morning whilst brushing his teeth poor sod.

She's teething and I assume biting as a reaction to the discomfort.

Is it acceptable? Not in the slightest.

As she is so young my approach to dealing with it is kneeling to her level, eye contact and a firm 'no', 'no biting'. For the benefit of my son I talk to her about how unkind and painful it is etc but she is to young to understand too much.

I've not had any incidents reported from nursery to date. I'm hoping this phase will be contained within the home 😑

I've noticed she does tend to react with biting more so when her DB is winding her up...

What are the issues your facing? Older child?

Ds is biting at nursery and I don't know how to deal with it. He's 3 so I feel it's sort of my fault because he's old enough to know better and I should be dealing with it better

Is it just at nursery? And if so, is it always the same victim(s)? Sorry, no magic bullet advice other than verbally reinforcing it's never ok -drop to their eye level, speak slowly, use your "authority" voice and few&simple words. Any immediate age-appropriate consequences (e.g no treat/ toys on tall cupboard, there were some good suggestions on another in AIBU the other day) that you thinkcould help reinforce message? Also, everyone needs to have the same approach and follow it swiftly rather than hours later when the child has long forgotten. Good luck!

My DD was bitten at nursery at the start of the week. It broke the skin and the marks are still there. The child that bit her was told to sit out of the activity (they were sat close together on a rug and singing) and the nursery worker discussed it with him at the time. (They're both 2). I'm quite sanguine about it - it's a phase, it happens. DD and him have a bit of a love/hate thing going on, chances are next week he'll be in the accident book because she's thumped him

Did you not think even a bit badly of the child or parent Jezz?

Dd (2.5) was bitten at nursery a few weeks ago, and no I didn't think badly of the child or parents at all. It's obviously not ideal but it's just one of these things. Dd is going through a hitting and kicking phase (mostly involving me...) - it's a nightmare but hopefully my attempts to teach her that it's unacceptable will succeed eventually!

Not at all - I think most toddlers have some kind of behaviour that drives their parents bonkers. DD doesn't bite, but she does sometimes push other children and steal their toys - obviously this isn't acceptable and we're working on it, but I just think it would be hypocritical of me to criticise other parents when I'm in the same boat.