All About Biting:

A toddler may bite for several reasons, all of which are innocent reasons, such as-

1. Lack of words to get his wants and desires known.2. Simply to get a good reaction.3. For a sensory experience.4. Just imitate another child, case of monkey-see, monkey-do.5. An indication that the toddler does not have enough stimulation to keep him busy so boredom can invoke biting.6. Too much stimulation.7. Teething and experiencing teething pain can resort to biting.8. Feeling hungry or tired.9. Too many sudden changes, chaos, or unpredictability in his young life.

Help your toddler to outgrow from this biting phase-

It is important before you think about strategies to make your toddler stop biting, focus on identifying under which situations does your toddler resorts to biting. So take time to shadow your child for next 10-15 days. If your toddler attends a child care center make arrangments with the center's administrator to shadow your toddler in his class to help identify the situation that triggers biting. Narrow down the cause. Once you have identified the reasons now think about how you can prevent from the situation that triggers biting occur in the first place.

Some strategies-

1. When your toddler playfully nips on your arm, get down to his eye-level and firmly say, "This hurts. I don't like it when you do this."2. Supervise your toddler until you are sure that your toddler has outgrown from the biting phase.3. Give attention or reward non-aggressive behaviors.4. If your toddler is teething give him a big piece of carrot, celery stick, etc. to bite.5. Change activities frequently, provide challenging activities/games to avoid boredom.6. If your toddler bites when he is angry, validate his feelings by saying, "I know you are angry when your friend takes away your toy, but it's not OK to bite." Be consistent in this approach.7. Minimize frustration by giving your toddler tools for socialization such as good vocabulary so that he uses to express himself instead os biting.

What to avoid-

A heavy-handed approach by scolding, hitting your toddler or putting him in time-out for a long period of time.

Make excuses for your toddlers behaviors and not help him with biting.

Sources:Eisenberg, A., Murkoff, H. E., & Hathaway, S. E. (1996). What To Expect The Toddler Years. NY: Workman Publishing.Barker, R. (2002). The Mighty Toddler: The Essential Guide to the Toddler Years. NY: M. Evans And Co., Inc.© copyright 2009 of myindianchild.org. All rights reserved.