11 month old is biting

Question

My son just turned 11 months and has started to bite others. It started out with him pulling on your clothes with his front teeth(he has 8 teeth). Now he grabs at your skin too. He usually bites on your shoulder when you hold him. He also will come to you when your sitting and try to bite your leg or arm. At times he thinks that it is a game and will laugh and keep trying to put his mouth on you. We usaully tell him "don't bite" and have even slapped at his hand, but this does not work. What can we do to stop this behavior? Isn't he too young to start biting? We can not put him in "time out" as you can with older children.

Renee · Answer

My son starting biting at the early age of 10months, he would bite children in his day care (which he only went to 2 days a week) he would bite them so hard they would bleed, it usually seemed like it would happen in the morning-so we thought he needed a nap sooner than he was given, but that didnt help, we would say very firmly and loudly "NO" and put him in a chair for a short time out, he hated being in the chair, I was afraid to use his crib because I didnt want him to become hateful toward bedtime thinking he was in his crib because he was bad and we would be back shortly to get him, Brandon just turned 20months old and is finally now stopped biting, his pediatrician said some children are biters and need to be told "NO" and watched constantly when around other children until he got over this, its alot of work and frustrating at times but it will end.

Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D. · Answer

Dear Tricia,

You are correct to tell your son, firmly, "No Biting". And you can put him in time out. Use his crib or a playpen as the time out space. It is absolutely not too early to begin using time out. Many parents think that time out cannot be employed with such young children. In reality, it can be used and is quite effective.

Also, it really won't help to slap him. That is a disciplinary tactic that you would do well to abandon. It will only encourage your son to imitate your behavior.

11 month old is biting

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