15 month old daughter starting to scratch and bite - advice please!!

[fionaann]

My 15 month old dd has started to scratch and hit us in the face when we pick her up when she doesn't want to be picked up. She will also occasionally bite us. After the biting I have sat her on the floor, got down to her level and said "no" firmly. I then leave her, she cries for 30 seconds, then plays happily and is prepared to bite me again not long afterwards. Any advice? Is she too young for an ASBO?

Any advice from anyone please?? My neck is starting to suffer!

I feel for you - I had a biter for a small period of time (mainly after a child bit DS).

I got some very useful advice from a mum here - she said every time your DD bites say firmly 'not bite - stroke' and whilst saying this use her hand to stroke you (so reinforce what you say with the action). I only had to do this a few days and DS started saying 'stroke' every time he went for a bite. It was surprisingly effective but you have to be stern.

Thanks very much Pickup - will try this. Here's hoping...

and DONT makea big thing of it as she will do it for much longer - from long hard experience

Thanks Noonki - guess it's hard to be stern and make the point that it is not acceptable but at the same time not make a big thing of it.

my dd (15mo) doesnt bite but hits me in frustration. no-one else, just me

I say to her, we DON'T hit mummy, she looks at me and does it again, so i hold her hand and say in a firm tone, if you hit mummy again you will go down, away from me etc.... she looks at me, smiles and does it again. She goes down on the floor and screams in tantrum. It is half sad and half funny, but i think its a big learning curve this age and we have to stay consistent and teach them what is/is not acceptable...many many times

HTH.

Message withdrawn

I have a dd the same age and she's acting in a very similar way. I really hope it's a short phase. I have been told that she's teething.

Have just found this useful advice from babycentre www.babycentre.co.uk/toddler/development/socialemotional/stopkickingbitingexpert/

Sorry I don't know how to do the funky there where the link I want to show is one word underlined.

AhhhhDD3 also 15 months has started doing this.

She really scratches my chest or my knee.
I say 'NO' very firmly and if she persisits I'll just move away from her.

I did similar to the stroking thing, if DS bit say no and look cross, then say, nice mummy, let's stroke/pat mummy and do that..

I've tried the stroking but stopped now because it's a similar action to scratching my face.

My DD bites, scratches, pinches and hits me. (Mostly with a smirk). She's 21 months and has been doing it for a while. Like others have said I put her down after she's done it and she has hysterics.

People used to say that children hit if the parents hit them (our older children were brought up 20 years ago when smacking was normal- none of them hit me), but nobody has hit DD ever.