Oh gawd, 17 month old biting

[Ozziegirly]

DS has always liked mouthing everything and anything. No drama up until now, but he has recently started biting.

He seems to do it in two ways. Firstly, when he's frustrated - eg earlier, he was biting a book, I took it away and he lunged for my leg.

Secondly, in a semi affectionate way - he comes in for a cuddle and gives me a nip - kind of kiss gone wrong.

My reaction is that I look him in the eye and say "We do NOT bite. Biting hurts and you have hurt mummy". His response is that he laughs and tries to bite me again. I then distract him.

I am dreading him biting another child. He has pulled a friend's hair and I basically did the same as above and he did look a bit chastened.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I should do>? I don't want the feral bitey child! And also the laughing at the stern voice annoys me more than the biting in the first place to be honest.

Please, any help?

I believe it is a phase. DS sneaks up and bites his dad's feet, he also bites my face and my fingers if they get near his mouth. I have discussed it with the mum of a slightly older toddler and he did the same. He hasn't bitten another child, or anyone other than his parents (although other babies at nursery have bit him) so I am hoping it is an affectionate/exploratory phase.
He also thinks being told off for it is hilarious, so I stopped paying attention, I just silently remove him.

Thank you - yes I am hoping it's a phase as well, but just want to make sure i don't encourage it somehow!

My DS did it. It is really a phase. At this age I just said No and put him down and turned away while being very calm. After a month or so he stopped. It usually happened when I was quite busy and didn't have much time for one to one. He was also biting toys when upset or cross but that stopped too. They are just learning to deal with feelings of anger or being upset. At 17 months the best thing is to ignore it.

My DS went through a looong biting phase. It eventually stopped at about 15months when I started doing time out. I put the travel cot up in the kitchen and when he bit me I would whisk him straight into it and ignore him for about a minute, then go and get him and say 'no biting'. Everyone seems to say time outs won't work at that age but biting dramatically reduced on the day I started this, and had completely stopped in about a week