https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Fri, 01 May 2026 12:51:26 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/17m-nonverbal-toddler-biting-pinching-hitting#post-2757146 Tue, 11 Jul 2017 12:24:37 +0000 littlejoy 2757146@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>You've gotten great advice! </p> <p>My two biggest ideas were: </p> <p>Not to react too strongly (he's wanting that reaction). </p> <p>At my LO's school, there is a kiddo who was biting a lot. They made him a little teether necklace (long-ish string with a silicon moon on it). They would react lightly to him biting, "Oh, we can't allow you to bit yourself/your friends/us. If you'd like to bite something, please use your necklace." - one he started wearing that necklace, the biting stopped within 2 weeks. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/17m-nonverbal-toddler-biting-pinching-hitting#post-2756655 Mon, 10 Jul 2017 11:06:09 +0000 cascademom 2756655@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Speech therapy. Our now 25 month old toddler only bites or hits when he's excited, but it's a function of not having the words to say them with. We know that he's at 2 year old receptive language, but he's at a year expressive. We just had his 6 month evaluation with the state since starting speech therapy in January. I would stick with 1, 2, 3 discipline, short time outs, and go from there. Look into speech therapy. If they're non verbal, they act out. We've seen it with our guy. Getting communication tools has helped tremendously. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/17m-nonverbal-toddler-biting-pinching-hitting#post-2756569 Mon, 10 Jul 2017 08:47:15 +0000 paigeface 2756569@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Ours went through this as well and we are still dealing with some hitting (he only does it to me when I tell him "no" or he is not getting his way) Our LO is 22 months and it's still a work in progress. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/17m-nonverbal-toddler-biting-pinching-hitting#post-2756501 Sun, 09 Jul 2017 22:02:00 +0000 DesertDreams88 2756501@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@hummusgirl: @Mrs. Toad: @gingerbebe: @azjax: @ShootingStar: @wrkbrk: @travellingbee: @pachamama: @Mrs. Turtle: </p> <p>Thanks for all your ideas and encouragement! We'll definitely start some of these things tomorrow. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/17m-nonverbal-toddler-biting-pinching-hitting#post-2756499 Sun, 09 Jul 2017 21:37:02 +0000 hummusgirl 2756499@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have the book "Teeth Are Not For Biting" and I'm about to order "Hands Are Not For Hitting"...so I'm right there with you with my LO2! I think it's just a personality thing (LO1 never did this) and you can do all the "right" things mentioned above but ultimately it's a phase that they just have to get through. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/17m-nonverbal-toddler-biting-pinching-hitting#post-2756342 Sat, 08 Jul 2017 22:03:46 +0000 Mrs. Toad 2756342@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Mine was older and the hitting phase coincided with his new baby sister. He still was not very verbal at the time. I tried saying no, putting him in time out, and ignoring him completely. What worked for me was to praise him for hitting something other than people. "Yeah, you hit the sofa, chair, etc." with lots of clapping. Within three weeks, he stopped. Before I starting praising, DS had randomly come and smacked DD on the head. DS wanted attention and I had to feed DD. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/17m-nonverbal-toddler-biting-pinching-hitting#post-2756338 Sat, 08 Jul 2017 21:53:22 +0000 gingerbebe 2756338@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Anytime our kids hit with a stick or hammer or anything, we immediately said "no, we do not hit" and took it away and put it out of reach but visible (i.e. a mantle or bookcase). They would sit there for a day and then it would come back into rotation, but would immediately get taken away as soon as it was used inappropriately. Consistency is key here.</p> <p>We had more of a hitting thing than a biting thing although biting happened too. We pulled him off, held his hands in our hands, looked him dead in the eye and said "no hitting, we are GENTLE to Mommy" and made him stroke our face softly. Then we said yay and high fived and clapped. We taught him how to high five bc it was a positive act that still got the hitting or slapping feeling. We high fived for everything at that age. I think you could do the same thing for biting, but pull him off and say no we do not bite while covering his lips and say we are gentle while stroking the bitten area gently and then end with clapping and praise and giving kisses or Eskimo kisses. Pinching I would probably try to replace with high fives.</p> <p>FWIW our son was a ton better before 2 - our youngest was born when he was 20 months we rarely ever had a hitting or biting incident at that point.</p> <p>Again, consistency! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/17m-nonverbal-toddler-biting-pinching-hitting#post-2756337 Sat, 08 Jul 2017 21:26:47 +0000 ShootingStar 2756337@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>So we didn't have a biting stage, but we did have a short hitting one. We did a "time in" for all hitting. We'd tell him he needed a time out, took him to a corner and held him on our lap, facing out. It was immediate and it was every time. I took it really seriously because I was afraid of what could happen if/when he hit our relatively patient dog. And while our dog is very good, she's still a dog. </p> <p>I also take away any toys that I don't like how they get used. We've had multiple (gifted) toy hammers go to giveaway because I didn't like him hitting everything in the house with them. I know not all the things you listed are toys, but for everything that you can remove that he does that with, get rid of. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/17m-nonverbal-toddler-biting-pinching-hitting#post-2756307 Sat, 08 Jul 2017 18:54:48 +0000 azjax 2756307@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>To discourage biting, hitting, pinching, etc we firmly say "no thank you" followed by "insert body part here is/are not for hurting" and then we remove him from the activity and sit him down and walk away. You have to be absolutely consistent and keep emotions out of your voice and body language. Also, we kept a log so we could figure out what his triggers were so that we could intervene and redirect before he reacted physically. Good luck, this is a difficult phase. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/17m-nonverbal-toddler-biting-pinching-hitting#post-2756259 Sat, 08 Jul 2017 13:10:09 +0000 wrkbrk 2756259@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@DesertDreams88: Oh wow already! My son (19 months) is waiting on quite a few still!! Haha. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/17m-nonverbal-toddler-biting-pinching-hitting#post-2756257 Sat, 08 Jul 2017 13:04:57 +0000 DesertDreams88 2756257@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@wrkbrk: he has all his teeth xcept 2 year molars. The canines are very small and they've been taking forever! But all at the same time so it could be that. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/17m-nonverbal-toddler-biting-pinching-hitting#post-2756244 Sat, 08 Jul 2017 12:09:59 +0000 wrkbrk 2756244@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My son bites when he's teething. Could yours be getting molars? What's worked (at daycare) is giving the toddlers these chewy ring teething toys. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/17m-nonverbal-toddler-biting-pinching-hitting#post-2756241 Sat, 08 Jul 2017 11:50:45 +0000 travellingbee 2756241@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Congrats on #2! They will be pretty close together! I find this age pretty challenging. They are constantly going through difficult phases as they figure out the next thing. I wish I had an easy solution for you but I always end up finding out it just needs to pass on its own. I think you're doing the right thing by telling him no consistently. "Hands are not for hitting!" "Mouths are not for biting Mommy!" He'll get it eventually but man it's tough in the meantime. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/17m-nonverbal-toddler-biting-pinching-hitting#post-2756240 Sat, 08 Jul 2017 11:38:28 +0000 pachamama 2756240@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Solidarity. Your guy sounds like mine (17.5 months and I'm 6 weeks pregnant, also on progesterone, weaned at 15.5 months). I really think it's a phase; my son isn't nonverbal but your guy has a few words so don't stress. I think they're about to have a vocabulary explosion in addition to learning boundaries of physical force. My guy does it when hungry, tired or bored which is sometimes inevitable but we redirect and give him something to work on, even something as silly as "Can you go get that book for mommy?" he likes "having a job" </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/17m-nonverbal-toddler-biting-pinching-hitting#post-2756226 Sat, 08 Jul 2017 09:04:39 +0000 Mrs. Turtle 2756226@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@DesertDreams88: So ours had nothing to do with weaning, and might not help you, but O went through this at exactly that age. She was quite verbal, so I couldn't really blame it on that either. With her it seemed to mostly happen when she was overstimulated. It was often when she was upset or frustrated, but sometimes when she was happy too. Always when she was amped up in some way, positive or negative. We tried all of the things you mentioned with zero results. Finally I realized that it's not like she was thinking through the biting (or hitting or pinching or head butting), so telling her no didn't really help. She often would get upset afterward without even being corrected. </p> <p>What DID work (or is working-it's not completely solved yet but we've had big progress and are down to maybe 1-2 incidents per week instead of like...20 per day?) was teaching her to calm herself down. When I see her getting frustrated or too excited, I start talking to her really calmly about calming down, taking a deep breath, etc. If she doesn't respond (usually she doesn't) I ask if she needs help. Still really slow and calm. I don't really wait for a response, I just pick her up softly and sit her in my lap, facing out, kind of controlling her arms and legs in the process so she can't get me. I start taking really deep breaths and she often will follow along. Usually I only need to do that for maybe 10-30 seconds before I feel her start to relax. Then she's usually past that impulse to bite, hit, whatever. Sometimes we do this over and over. But if I catch it right away, it usually heads off the violent outbursts. I feel like it's teaching her self-regulation, which is a valuable skill to have especially when you're a high energy, emotional human like she is.</p> <p>No idea if this is similar to what you're dealing with, but it has worked wonders for us. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/17m-nonverbal-toddler-biting-pinching-hitting#post-2756225 Sat, 08 Jul 2017 08:55:57 +0000 DesertDreams88 2756225@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My son is 17 months old and was weaned about 5 weeks ago. I also started summer break 5 weeks ago, so I've been home with him for most of the day, most of the time. He has only 3-4 words, though he babbles a ton. He is ok at communicating nonverbally, like pointing and pulling my finger.</p> <p>Anyway, he bites CONSTANTLY. It's mainly me, but he bites my husband too. He mainy goes for bare skin, and it's mixed with sucking as well, so I think it's a reaction to being weaned. But it's been FIVE WEEKS. He also likes to pinch bare skin. Lastly, any long object over 6 inches, he likes to swing it and hit people (and hit other objects, but people is really fun). This includes toy hammers, our toy grabber (grandparents), our 2x2 wood that's keeping our patio door from being opened, etc. </p> <p>We have tried holding his face and looking directly into his eyes and saying "No ________" forcefully. We have tried giving him lots of opportunity to "bite" and "chew" using whole fruit, meat, etc. We have inconsistently tried putting him down and walking away during biting..... inconsistent because sometimes its inconvenient timing / location, and sometimes I'm dead tired (7.5wks pregnant &amp; on progesterone)</p> <p>Any ideas for how to curb this behavior, at this age? Did you toddlers go through this when weaning or otherwise? When does it endddd.</p> <p>In 3 weeks he goes back to Grandmacare and I'm worried the problem will get ignored or we will have different ways of dealing with it, and I want to firmly be on the same page.</p> <p>ETA: Sometimes he bites for attention or because he's hungry! So we know what to do then. But more than half of the time, it's neither reason. </p>