Biting

[gramma]

I have a 20 month dcg who has started biting. She has done it about 4 times in the last couple of weeks. I cannot find any reason as to why. The kids and I will be on the floor playing and everything is fine and all of a sudden she's biting. There was no fight over toys, its not retaliation, everything was fine just prior to each time. I have always been withing arms reach. I dont know what to do. after the first time i've been shadowing her but the second time she did it, we were playing with blocks and my 2y.o gave her a car and she went to hug him. How nice I thought and she bit him on the shoulder. So i have been making her keep hands to herself completely. I have an 11month old who crawls and my biter was sitting beside her and she leaned over and tried to bite her on the top of the head. I grabbed her before she could hurt her badly but she still made contact. And today my 2y.o was sitting at the play table and we were doing puzzles and my biter was playing with cars on the table. She dropped her car and went under the table and bit his toe. I dont get it. I've told mom each time and she is horrified. the 2 kids she has bitten are siblings and i cannot afford to lose them both because of this but i also cant afford to lose the biter either. I dont know how to handle it. I dont know if this has any bearing but my biter has not been herself lately because of her 2 year molars. She's constantly got fingers in her mouth etc so i dont know if that has anything to do with it or not. ugggh .

[mlv]

This age group are oral by nature they bite for many reason. Most people are quick to assume it's out of aggression only. Many child bite as reaction to all emotions even when they are happy or excited. Children will even sometimes bite to show affection. This age group don't yet understand that other people have different feeling as their own. Therefore if it feel good to them they think it must feel good to the other person.
It sounds like she is not doing it out of aggression which is the easiest to step in and prevent.
If this is new behavior and she is teething my guess is that she is looking for relief. You could make sure she has inappropriate things for her to chew on thorough out the day. I find a lot of children like cold when they are teething. I have often rolled up a wet face cloth and put it in the freezer for the children. They seem to really like it for some reason. I would also continue to shadow her and closely observe her, you may be able to pick up on changes in her temperament when she attempts to bite. This could help you know if you need to step in a prevent. I hope this helps, I have dealt with a few biters and know it can be very frustrating.

[Bookworm]

I would also suggest that if you can not keep your full attention on her for whatever reason (changing diapers, etc) then have her away from the other children so she doesn't have the opportunity to bite.

[sunnydays]

Have you asked the parents if they do play fighting or play biting at home? Sometimes parents pretend bite their kids (with no teeth of course) as a form of play and then the kids think it is playing. I had a little guy who started doing this and the dad admitted that he play bites. Dad stopped and the problem disappeared. Plus, I shadowed him for a week or two and interuppted him before he could land the bite...he got out of it really fast. Some do not stop so easily though I feel your pain! Biting is the worst!