I think I have a biter. Emma was verbal from a very early age, so she was never frustrated communicating with me and she was never a biter, but ds only has a few words and today he got mad at his sister and bit her and he bit hard. :confused: Thankfully he didn't break her skin, but what do I do? Can he understand it's wrong at 13 months?

Stephanie,
when you figure it out lmk as mason (15 mos today) bites all the time. my only biter out of 4 kids. I am sporting 2 nasty bruises on the inside of my arm. yeouch!

The two most helpful things (well three!) for a young biter is to:

A. Give him words for what he is feeling before he gets to the biting point.

B. Give him lots of oral stimulation (things to chew and suck) if he seems to be a random biter

C. Defend yourselves against the bite before he gets to the point of contact. Scolding after the fact rarely helps. Stopping the bite before it happens is the most effective.

Remember that the ages of 13-18 months or so can be quite a challenge because our toddlers are just forces of energy without much language and a lot of frustration.

Thanks that was very helpful

Thank you that was helpful! I talked to dd about what she can do to help prevent him from biting her based on what you said.

You are both very welcome. :)