16 month old biting / fighting twin boys - any advice?

[marmitesarnie]

Hi

I have 16 month old non ID twin boys. They love to playfight with eachother, chase eachother around and wrestle a lot, which is all very sweet, until the biting starts! DS1 is always the instigator and tries to start the wrestling, but DS2 gets annoyed with him/over excited and ends up biting. It's happening several times a day now and is at the point where he's drawn blood on a couple of occasions! Poor little boy is covered in welts and bruises, by the end of the day. Problem is, it happens so fast, I can't always get to him before he gets bitten..

At the moment, I am just saying 'No' firmly (trying not to shout too much!) and making a fuss over the one who's been bitten. Any one got any other advice or any one else had this?

Also has anyone tried the twin reins? Are they worth the money or can you get away with two single ones?

I used single reins on occasion, and it worked fine, although I still have memories of trying to board a train with them when they were about the age of yours, with my foot through the reins loop, a back pack full of all our stuff, trying to collapse a double buggy, whilst a crowd of people looked on like I was some kind of sideshow. Eventually a guard asked if I would like some help boarding. When I said yes he bizarrely decided that it was easiest if he took the kids rather than the bag or buggy..

Giving the kids time with you on their own with you will reduce any aggression between them.

On the plus side, all that play fighting stood my two in good stead when it came to martial arts and rugby. Most of the kids who were "onlies" or singletons with sibs who were older or younger (so parents much more likely to step in because of a mismatch in strength) recoiled the first time they took a punch, whereas my two shrugged it off as normal .

Well that's good to know - at least they'll be a couple of tough nuts! That was seriously brave attempting a train journey - wow! Just taking them to the local toddler group is about as adventourous as I've been..

lol Jaybirds, so true about dts being tougher than singletons. my dts are 3y6m. The welts and bruises from bighting have got less as they have got older but they still fight badly sometimes. the biggest problem we have is that they always want the same thing and teaching sharing has been really important.
If they are play fighting teaching the one who has had enough to say STOP and the other to back off when they hear it is definitely a good lesson for life. Apparently that is where playfighting with dad is important - he is supposed to teach boys that.
Sounds as if you are doing the right thing by saying 'no' and comforting the one who has got bitten. I think for most kids bitin is a phase they go through (seemed a longer phase with twins than my singleton though).

Just to reassure you you're not alone, my DT boys (18 months) bite each other quite a lot, and it's awful. (And often instigated by one in particular) My eldest DS never did it. I do exactly what you do. I think it's probably down to lack of attention/having the rival always on hand to bite etc and boys. Though god knows really, but don't despair - it's supposed to stop around 2 and a half..