Help! I have a biter and I'm not sure what to do about it...

My DS is almost 8 months now and has become a terrible biter. Up until recently I thought it was nothing to worry about and that he would just grow out of it, or that it would be something we'd deal with down the track.

Well he is getting worse and worse, and now that he has 6 of his front teeth it hurts! He doesn't just bite my fingers, he will crawl over to me and bite my leg, (it hurts like hell if he manages to get a chunk of flesh) my shoulder when I'm holding him, and now my face (I did think he was trying to give me kisses, but now that he's been able to get a grip a couple of times I'm pretty sure he just wants to bite me).

So what should I do to try and curb this problem? I'm starting to say no when he does it, but lets face it 8 month olds don't really get 'no' and don't have the control to stop themselves anyway. Part of me thinks he's just a baby and that babies do this, but then he just seems to be doing it more and more (and he seems to take delight in me saying 'OUCH') and I don't want him to become one of those toddlers who bites other children. Love to hear what you've done to curb biting with your little one.

Hi, I dont have time to reply just now but I will subscribe so I can pop back in later tonight and reply. :hug: though as I am dealing with this very frustrating problem also.

What do you do at the moment?

I have found that screaming when I get bitten shocks the living daylights out of my son ... I wish I'd done it more when he was younger instead of just not showing any pain to him.

I think I might have to give the scream a go Kazbah, at the moment I try and say 'no', but it falls on death ears :wall:

Miss E I really feel your frustration, I too have a biter and a terrible one, although she has not bitten another child, she mainly bites me, she does sometimes bite her daddy or her nappy, not as hard for them though. I believe she does it when she is frustrated or angry, nanny if I have said no to her or taken something away from her she will usually attempt to bite. I have been reduced to tears a couple of times because of it, I am pregnanct and tired and I used to be a patient person but I am not at the moment so I get very angry myself when she bites.
I have tried, yelling out, putting her down and walking away or just walking away from her ignoring her, I have smacked her and it took me a long time to do the following but I bit her back - not hard but enough to startle her, well this also did not work. The only thing that has has some effect for me is Time Out. I have a play pen in our rumpus room and as soon as she bites I say no do not bite, it is not very nice it hurts and upsets mummy, I then put her in the play pen and walk away for 2 mins, I then go back in there and say to her again that biting is not very nice and upsets and hurts me. I then pick her up and she is fine, this was working really well for me until someone wanted to borrow the play pen and hasnt brought it back yet, so I am a bit stuck at the moment. I think if this time out method ends up being a dead end also my only other thing left to do is to let her bite and show no reaction but as soon as she is finished walk away.
Sorry for the long reply but I have been battling this since she was at least 10 months old. I really hope something works for you. Maybe someone else will have an idea that might work, I will be watching closely.