Fellow Parents!

[bacony]

Comments

[ed_fortune]

Have you tried exposing her to sunlight?

Or garlic?

[icklejo]

Elin went through a brief phase of doing this, but not quite so hard and regular! It seems it's most likely frustration. She probably thinks her usual baby shouting doesn't appear to be conveying JUST HOW ANGRY she is, so the only other thing she can think to do without being able to articulate it in words is to bite you. There isn't really a huge amount you can do to make them stop other than try and convey that it bloody well hurts and that they shouldn't do it and persist with that tack. They don't realise it hurts until they get a bit older so although you don't want to make a fuss and give attention, making it clear they've hurt you first before doing anything else could be a good idea. We used to say Ouch! and act in such a way she knew that she'd hurt us, then say calmly 'Please don't bite, it hurts, ow ow' and point at where she'd bitten. We may have asked her to then kiss it better as well but it was along time ago, I've slept since then. I think when they're fairly young by the time you put them in a time out they don

[bacony]

It's all good advice, thank you! I might have an old leather pair knocking around somewhere, certainly easier than a muzzle!

Steel bracers

[funcan]

Think steel bracers can be used to dissuade horses from biting - they quickly learn they're just going to bruise their mouth.

Not sure it this counts as helpful information or not, but it's an amusing mental image...

[freddiefraggles]

From observing the way my mum and sister deal with my nieces (who've lived with us for 18 of the last 24 months - my 2nd niece is 21-22 months), biting is something that will stop happening, but you must reinforce the solitary confinement with words, and reinforce the good behaviour, so that when she does bite, the contrast is just as definite as her vorpal screaming.

Also don't underestimate copying what she has just done at you (the screaming, not the biting!) and then turning it into something funny.

[sheyna]

I'm afraid my responce to being bitten, especially when sproglets were too young to properly understand anything, was not a very PC one. I responded the same way I did to Sam (our cat), with a flick on the nose and a "no".

Not the way the psychologists recommend, but got an instant responce of "oooh, maybe I shouldn't have done that". With Ben, the next time he went for me, he paused, looked up at me and when I said "no" pre-emptively, he didn't do it. Once he's old enough to understand me when I explain *why* he shouldn't do that (with Eleanor it was when she was about 2) then I'll explain.

But then, the way I do things would send many "experts" into spasms.

[littlebus]

Martin gets a bit bitey sometimes recently. I think he's picked it up from daycare. We (or I should say "I" as I don't think he's actually bitten Ash) say "Ow! That hurts!" and then ask him to kiss it better.

With him I think it's a more about testing boundaries than expressing frustration, but either way it's no good.