[AmyOinMN]

Have any of your kids gone thru biting others?

While in China, when Olivia would get excited or frustrated, she would bite me. I had a huge bruise on each shoulder. I thought that maybe she didn't understand what she was doing...maybe teeth were still new to her, so she didn't realize that it hurts.

She hasn't done it for quite some time now. But Saturday she bit another child. They were playing just fine & then all of a sudden she grabs the girl's hand & bites it! I'm wondering how I should handle it. How I should tell her its wrong. I grabbed her & told her no but she didn't seem to react. She just stared at the other girl not knowing why she was crying.

I would hate to have Olivia be a bully & attack other kids! I just want to make sure I handle it right. I'm going to see if my Super Nanny book has some advice too.

Where would she learn this from anyways? She was in foster care, so maybe her foster sister did it to her? When she gets mad after being told no, she'll search for some skin on me & scratch it. How does she know that?

[thundrrds]

biting other kids is a very normal part of development for toddlers thru age 2. very normal!!!! I'd tell her 'no bite; we're nice to our friends' and not make a very big deal of it.

[mkinzie]

My DD bit at the beginning. She didn't seem to be doing it necessarily out of frustration but from teething. There were a few times, however, that she did bite out of frustration. I just kept saying "NO!" very firmly. It took a while but now she puts her finger in her mouth and pretends she's going to bite and says "NO". Then she claps! She does that when she feels she's doing something good. I was very frustrated at first but eventually she stopped. I'm hoping she doesn't pick it back up again.

[Mailbox13]

Toddlers don't have the verbal skills to express anger and frustration. Biting, hiting, and scratching are their normal recourse. They don't have to learn to bite, hit, or scratch, it is hardwired from birth.

That said, they do learn whether or not its acceptable. It's like many of the other things we have to teach them. It takes a repetative and consistent response from us. We have to continually and firmly reinforce that this is unacceptable behavior. Sometimes they will give you that kind of blank look like they don't understand, but over time they will get it.

Hang in there. All kids do it. You will work through just like everything else.

[AmyOinMN]

Thank you everyone for responding! Its good to know that Olivia isn't unusual & that she won't grow up to be the "mean girl".

Someone I know had a boy that would bite other kids (he was old enough to understand it was wrong). His mom had to finally bite him back for him to realize that it hurts & its wrong. After that he never bit again.

I don't want to do that, so I'm hoping telling her no will work out. She's not around kids very often.

While in China & at home for a little bit, Olivia had a buise on her wrist from her biting herself. She doesn't do that now, so the bruise has gone away finally. So you'd think she'd understand that it hurts!