10 month old - and a little biter!!

[kiwicath]

I need a few pointers on this one. My 10 month old son had 8 of his teeth pop out by the time he was 7 months which hasn't been a problem in the slightest. He doesn't bite when I'm feeding him but he's into giving open mouth kisses and raspberries which is all very sweet until he decides to get his teeth involved. I let him mouth in the beginning as he seemed to know the difference between that and biting but now he will sink his teeth in at any opportunity. On occassion he's taken me by surprise and I've let out a shriek - which he thinks is fab and launchs himself at me to have another go. I've tried saying "no" firmly which he takes no notice of or worse, thinks is hillarious. I try to side track him and not make a big thing of it which works until the next time he's sitting on my knee. Was hoping he'd grown out of it but it's been nearly two months now that it's been a real problem. He's very sociable and loves being handed over to anyone - I think because he sees them as unsuspecting prey!!! Any tips mums??

[kiwicath]

.... whoops, that made him out to be a thug which he most definitely isn't. He sweet, loving and very sensitive. I realise he doesn't really know what he's doing but still, how to I let him know at this early stage that it's anti sociable behaviour .... as well as BLOODY PAINFULL!!!

[aloha]

Don't react! When he next bites, just put him down or away from you with no noise except a calm, not loud, 'no biting', and walk away from him. Or put him out of the room and close the door very briefly. The point is not to 'punish' him but to build the association biting=no attention, instead of biting = fun shrieking from you and a lovely sensation for him.
This won't work the first time you do it but it should work eventually. Also, make sure he isn't hungry - that affected my son, and if he really seems to need to chew for his teeth's sake give him something he can bite - ie something inanimate. This really is totally normal and not a sign of a trainee vampire

[aloha]

You do have to be consistent with this approach as it won't work first time - it will take a little while for the penny to drop that biting is no fun.

[shindy]

my 10 month old baby is clingy and crying. i cant do anything and she is begining to slap. i dont know wat to do. what i am doing wrong. what should i do

[MichaelsMum]

Hi Kiwicath,
We had this problem when ds was 12 months and I regularly had bite marks and bruises on my arms. He didn't know it was wrong and it just seemed to part of affectionate, boisterous play but however much we said 'No biting' it didn't seem to stop the behaviour. However luckily it was only myself and dh who were the victims, although when he started at full time nursery at 18 months I was worried that he might bite other children (he never has so far - a year later!). We never made a big thing out of it and gradually it stopped (around the time he started at nursery). I advise watching out for warning signals that it is about to happen and try a diversion. If he does manage to sink the teeth in, react firmly but undramatically by stopping the play / hug / cuddle. He might cry for a minute then you can go back to hugging and say 'No biting'. Good luck!

[bunnyrabbit]

We had this problem too. DS would bite DH when he was cuddling him.

MNers advised us to put him down whenever he bit with a very firm 'no biting' and then ignore him for a minute. He soon go the message and stopped within a couple of days.

I think this could work for the slapping too....

BR