Thursday, December 11, 2008

Bite me

About a hundred times a day. That's what it seems like anyway. I know that toddler biting is a very common problem, but I'm not finding it easy to deal with. The firm "NO BITE" that all the books and websites say to give only stops her in the moment, and she's back with a mouthful of vengeance pretty soon thereafter.

I know she does it when she is tired or frustrated or over-excited, and I try to keep those times to a minimum. The fact that she's been teething for the vast majority of her brief life to date doesn't help either. I've found that consistent napping helps tremendously, but it's not really solving the problem.

Honestly, it's not that I worry about having bite marks all over me; I do, however, worry about her biting her little sister. It's only happened once so far -- right smack on the little one's head no less -- but it could so easily become habit. More importantly, I guess, I worry about her biting some other kid in one of her activities. We go to a library group and a music group, but in both of those situations, I'm there to watch her and participate with her. At my gym however, she's in a big play room with lots of other kids while I'm trying to lose an ounce or two of the fifty pounds of baby weight I'm dragging around with me. The woman who cares for the kids is very kind and on-the-ball, but how could she manage every little thing?

So does the biting go away with the teething? It is just a natural phase of life, an outlet for the pains and frustrations of being a baby?

3 comments:

Casey said...

I know it's just a phase and I don't have any useful advice. I know that when my son briefly bit, the more I reacted, the more he did it but that doesn't help when you have to show her NOT to bite her sister.... good luck!

Anita said...

I also agree that it's just a phase and I think it ends with the teething. Gabriel is a hitter and hair puller...oh what fun they are at this age! :-)

Tara said...

Yeah, just a phase albeit a very annoying and painful one lol ... What we did with our daughter was -- "OUCH" (well this was mostly involuntary) "I do not like to be bitten (or alternatively, people are not for biting)...bite this instead..." (hand whatever to bite or chew)

okay, I don't mean it worked.... it is just what we did LOL

Seriously though, it does work... eventually, after about 324098320493284 times of saying that. It pretty much worked around the same time the phase is over so that is comforting eh.

If it is any consolation I can say with near certainty that your babe won't be randomly biting strangers as an adult (unless maybe they are secretly a vampire, but I doubt it.)