My 2 year old son has been getting bitten by a friend's 18 month old daughter for the last 3 months or so. Today he (my son) bit his older brother and then, when I stopped him he bit himself on his own wrist. I got his wrist out of his teeth and a moment later he bit himself again in the same place. My 6 year old (whom my 2 year old had just bitten) wasn't doing anything when he bit him. He was sitting on the sofa watching cartoons. There was no provocation for the bite. I would like to stop this before it gets worse and I don't know how. Neither of my 2 older children bit. Watching him bite himself was very upsetting. He now has 2 perfect sets of bite marks on his wrist that were self inflicted. Please help me. Any advise at all is greatly appreciated.
I have looked after a biting two year old (my God Daughter). Biting tends to be copied from other children (as you probably already know). When my God Daughter bit either myself or her baby brother, I tended to put her in time out - this stopped her really quickly. Now I only have to warn her and she stops biting (or hitting, spitting etc). All that you do is tell your 2 yr old what he has done wrong, then (without talking to him again) put him in a safe (preferably boring) room or place for two minutes. After the two minutes, let him out, and if you want, get him to say sorry to whoever he hurt.
As for the biting himself, it may be attention seeking. My God Daughter used to fdo it too, I just ignored it and she stopped after a while.
