biting my shoulder and collar bone

[sasholi]

Hi all.
Bit of a strange post.
My son is 8 1/2 months old and I understand that you totally just cannot discipline a bub of this age. However, I just wanted to get others' opinions on this.

Whenever I pick my son up for a cuddle (pretty much every couple of minutes as he is going through a grizzle patch at the moment) he likes to bite REALLY REALLY hard into my collar bones and my shoulders. I am walking around with red marks on me lately :o

Today he did it especially hard and my reaction was "Aleksander No. Don't bite mummy it hurts!" spoken reaasonably loud (NOT yelling at all) and I gently pulled him away. He cried a little but I'm not sure if it's becuaseI pulled him away from his chew toy...

Did I do something wrong? Should I just ignore it and gently remove him? I think that is what I will do - just keep removing him and offering him something else to chew on. I totally don't want to make him cry, but I dont really want him biting me (or anyone else).

Would you do that - remove him and offer him something else? Can I say firmly to him, "NO, don't do that it hurts" and remove him and offer him seomthing else?

Just some advice if you think i'm on the right path or totally off.

Thanks all...

[wattle]

It sounds like he might be teething. Ds loves to chow down onto a piece of my flesh when he has sore gums. :rolleyes: Maybe try giving him a rusk before you pick him up.

[draught]

I have been through this with both of my girls. The advice I had, which worked really well for me, was to say no in a calm voice and put them down on the floor calmly and move away and continue on with what you were doing. You only need to leave him on the floor for a short time. If you are consistent with it they soon learn that when they bite they lose the cuddle. The other thing to know is that it isn't biting for a malicious purpose - it is more about exploring another dimension of their world - they don't know they are hurting you! (and those little teeth are sharp aren't they?)

[sasholi]

Oh yes I totally know it is not malicious.
I definitely think he is teething as he is dribbling like crazy. This little one could solve the water crises all by himself. All we need to figure out is how to siphon the saliva and we're home free... Might set him up outside to water the lawn ;)

hmmm, will have to control the gasping that I do when he does bite down suddenly. Ow, it seriously hurts and my reaction is to gasp quite suddenly which I think frightens the poor little might.

Oops gotta go. He can't crawl but he is doing a good job of going backwards under the sofa!

[stormanet]

heya aleksander's mum... looks like you gave birth to a vampire *lol* just enjoy the bites... and remember it will make a great story for his 21st!

[xkwzit]

Hi
I don't think it is to early to discipline (and what draught describes is pretty much what I'd do and call it discipline). He needs to know that this is not OK and that you won't put up with it. If he had bitten another child, you'd pull him up on it (wouldn't you :confused: ), so don't you think that its absolutely OK to pull him up on it when he does it to you? (you deserve so much more respect from him than some other kid) I believe by telling him "no" and putting him down you've done EXACTLY the right thing. Its Ok for him to cry, he is allowed to be upset/angry that you've taken his chew toy away, that doesn't make it OK for YOU to be his chew toy. I also think your idea of distraction is really good at this age too.

Otherwise, he won't learn that its wrong until he does do it to someone else and they react. So really, by not teaching him now - I think you're doing him a bit of an injustice (JMO), as eventually you'll have to discipline him (inconsistently with your previous actions and under the more socially awkward situation of him having bitten someone else :o ).

Trying to be supportive, and I guess you can see that I really feel strongly about setting boundaries even at an early age. If you don't start now, when DO you start :confused: .

Cheers