Biting, scratching, screaming 16mth old...Aaarrrgghhh!

[GrrrlWith2Boys]

What have you found are the best ways to deal with this?

He mainly bites his Dad, sometimes me. It's on purpose, and he seems find doing it to his Dad especially funny.

did you used to be pregnantgrrl? Have you just had another baby?

If so, I'm wondering if your ds is reacting to the birth of the new baby, and is attention seeking.

I was- it did start before baby, but it's more so now. he's affectionate to new baby, but mostly bites and scratches DH.

My DS hit this stage with a vengeance at this age and i posted about it - will try to find the thread for you

i was in bits as i was being scratched and daddy wasn't ...

found it

thanks. At the moment i tell him 'no' firmly and put him down / away from me. sometimes he really hurts, and i can't help raising my voice. DH gets taken by surprise with a nasty bite etc and almost shouts too. Maybe we need to try harder with a firm tone but no raised voices.

luckily i'm not really getting the brunt of it- although i can't stand the screeching phase he's also going through. He's so loud and high i feel like my head will explode, and he finds me going 'Shh!' v funny and does it more.

We have just started to remove DS and put him in the hallway - he only bites his big sister atm, but I do speak clearly, loudly and firmly "No biting, that's a naughty boy thing to do." and then sit him in hallway - have to keep hands on shoulders to make him stay...

He also hair pulls for which I tap his fingers (after removing clumps of hair) and then hold them tightly whilst firmly saying "No pulling hair..."

I'm sure I will be doing the same consistent things for the next few weeks until he gets it. My DD did similar, biting and hitting faces at this age and after a few weeks of consitent intervention, she got the message.