Tips to stop hitting/head butting and biting! 25month old

[Elmo311]

Hi everyone,

My DD has a few words but not many, and only uses a few of them consistently. Since January she's been hitting and biting etc and I was hoping it was just a phase but it keeps happening!

For the last few months we label the emotion she's feeling and we say "it's ok to be/ feel X it's not ok to bite/hit/ etc and then remove her from the situation. Sometimes I get to her before the biting but not always :(

That hasn't been working so we did a few time outs, which do help calm her down and she always apologises to her brother afterwards but I just wondered if there's a better way to deal with this?

She mainly goes to bite if her brother takes her toy away, accidentally knocks her over or does something to piss her off basically! He's 3 so I do explain to him but it doesn't always help.

She does like to chew things so maybe some chewerly (sp?) might be a good idea so she can bite that instead of him?

Help meeeeeeeeeeeeee

Bump...

That sounds very difficult to deal with.

How about: "we don't bite DB, but we can bite (chewy toy/food/other safe item - point them out or pass to her)?

"We don't hit Mummy, but we can hit the floor/drum/cushion" and show this to her with a visual (the actual thing she can hit).

Is she putting two words together? Do you think she understands the concept of a time out?

If you get in there first (you know it's about to happen), could you offer the alternative before the biting/hitting behaviour starts?

I hope something in there is helpful. Toddlers are difficult.

@Jay2790 Thanks for taking the time to comment!

She isn't putting two words together yet, but she 100% understands everything! After she's been in time out she will go and stoke the person she hurt on their arm as her way to say sorry. And we always explain why she's being placed in time out.

I have actually previously redirected her to a cushion or toy to bite instead, and she occasionally will but I've seen that it depends what's closest to her!

I really hope it's a phase that passes soon as she will go to pre school soon and I'm worried about her doing it there too :(

Perhaps your idea of a chewy thing then? You know her best and what might work. She must be frustrated if there's lots of understanding yet she can't make herself understood. I hope you find something that works. Pre school will be used to dealing with this sort of issue if it does crop up. Best of luck with it all.

@Jay2790 Thank you for your advice x