Biting 11 month old!

[user1488224831]

Hi Everyone, I know this is one of the really sensitive topics but I really need some help.

My son goes to nursery two days a week. I have never had to sign any accident sheets or had any reports other than incidental things informally at pick up.

My son came home from nursery and i found a bite mark on his shoulder. I phoned the nursery and informed them and they seemed quite shocked. Since then (but not straight away) my son has started getting really fusterated when I try to stop him crawling off or take something away. He lashes out, scratched or tries to bite me.. if he doesn’t get hold of me he starts to bite himself!.. this is so distressing and I feel like ive failed at parenting already!

You’ve definitely not failed as a parent and lots of children at this age start to bite or scratch even if they’ve haven’t been bitten themselves. Are the Nursery keeping a close eye on him now? Did they get to the bottom of the biting incident?

How’s his speech too? This age can be difficult as they can’t usually express themselves very well (though they’ll probably be dozens of MNers saying their little darlings were quoting Shakespeare). I really found that signing help to ease the frustration, Ask Dr Sears has some helpful advice on the biting here too OP.

Thank you for your reassurance, his speech is still just repetitive sounds like baba dada .. he gabbles on but there’s no actual words yet. I hadn’t been worried, as he is spoken to lots (in Spanish and English) and has been a bit clingy recently but nothing that seems to warrant this frustration. I understand the fusteration at not being able to communicate because he’s definitely sure of what he wants.

This morning he did it again to my mum. She tried to stop him getting down off her lap and he turned and bit her. Me my dad and my brother all said Nooooo! At the same time.. and he started laughing. I will have a look at the link.. not sure of what to make of this!

Your poor DM. My DD bit for a while, one day she did it in front of my DF who was usually very jolly and they both adored esch other. My DF shouted, she cried but she never did it again. Not recommending you shout at him though...

Have you found the Bilingual section on MN? That might help too