My Own Personal Twilight

My 1-year-old plays for Team Edward. I know this because every time I wear a sleeveless top, she rears back and sinks her six super-sharp baby teeth into my pasty upper arm. And she does this at the most inopportune times. Like in the middle of church so that my yelp of pain interrupts the sanctity of the sermon.

So why is my docile little girl out for blood?

“Children usually bite out of frustration,” said Stefanee Keth, RN CPNP, nurse practitioner at Young Pediatrics in Glen Carbon, via e-mail. “They discover biting at about 1 year of age through teething, but continue the behavior because of the lack of good expressive language. At an age when children have minimal verbal skills, biting becomes a primitive form of communication. Only after age 2 or 3 does biting become a deliberate way to express anger and intimidate others.”

My daughter’s knack for biting concerns me, not only because I have bite marks criss-crossing my arms, but because I’m worried she's going to start snacking on her friends at daycare as well. I’ve tried in vain to get her to stop, but it’s been difficult disciplining a 1-year-old who continues to think biting is a game. Since Jacob Black doesn’t have my back right now, I needed guidance from someone else. Thankfully, Keth had four suggestions to halt the chomping:

1. “Establish a rule, such as ‘never bite people’ and give reason for the rule – ‘biting hurts.’
2. Be consistent with a firm NO – use an unfriendly voice and look the child straight in the eye. Try to interrupt the behavior before it actually happens and reward for positive behavior.
3. Suggest a safe alternative – tell your child if they want something, point at it or come and ask – ‘use your words.’
4. Give your child a time-out if he bites – send him to a boring place for approximately 1 minute per 1 year of age.”

By putting these tactics into play, hopefully my husband and I can nip the biting in the bud – and I can break out my tank tops once again.

By Nicole Plegge, Lifestyle Blogger for SmartParenting