Biting

A few weeks ago Holden's top two teeth finally popped out, and have been slowly growing since, while his 5th and 6th teeth began their own process of emerging. And since then, Holden's taken to biting not just teething toys, but--on occasion--his mommy and daddy. We think these are mainly 'love bites' probably due in part to our own 'love nibbles' when he was younger, but man does it hurt! He's probably also becoming accustomed to these new top teeth of his which seem far more useful than the first set of teeth.

This biting issue came to a fruition during our vacation, on a trip where he was otherwise perfectly pleasant, and thankfully--we think anyway--we've been able to stop it. How? A simple firm, but unalarming "no biting" whenever he does it. And if we're at home, we also put him down on the ground. We've also been trying to teach him "kisses" and "tickles" instead of bites--and he seems to be learning (he presses his mouth against our arm now instead of biting it.) Our first experience with disciplining seems to be working!

One more note on this biting issue--my mom claims that she used to 'bite me back' when I'd bite. To each there own, I guess, but I think this approach only teaches more bad habits and confuses them. To me, the best way to handle these kinds of situations, especially when they are this young and don't understand what they're doing, is to be firm but not angry, and to provide them with other alternative ways to playfully express themselves. And to give them chances to practice using those new teeth with food. Because new top teeth? How can a baby not be excited about that one?