Top Tips on Stopping Your Child Biting

Why do they bite?

Understanding why a child bites is key to beating the problem. Not all children bite out of anger or to hurt.

• Expressing emotion: Oddly enough, young toddlers can bite as a way of showing love. "Toddlers have really intense feelings but don’t know how to show them"
•  Experimenting: Toddlers are learning how their body works – they put things in their mouths, and sometimes nip. It’s impulsive and they don’t mean to hurt.
• Defending: Young children learn to bite as a defence, especially if they can’t talk.
• Controlling: Some children know biting is a way of getting other children – or their parents – to do what they want. They don’t always do this consciously

How to stop it?

•     Intervene: Open your eyes – look at how intense, how frequent bites are and what the triggers are.
•     Teach them it’s wrong: When your child bites, use simple but firm words. Try, “that’s biting, that’s wrong” or a firm “no”. If you’re in a group, remove them from the situation. Explain that it hurts others and why you don’t like them doing it.
•      Teach them to express themselves: When things have calmed down, try to help your child find a less painful way to express their feelings.
•      Reduce the effectiveness: When children bite to gain attention, dealing with it is trickier. After the first big talking to, don’t try to continue to reason or explain.