Laughing at No!

learnermum · #1 (**permalink**) 20-06-2008, 11:06 AM

My just turned one yr old is biting alot lately, which I know is normal but when it is me he's biting it can be very sore! He is also opening drawers which I don't want him to and I have no way of blocking them or moving them.

So I've been saying no when he does something I don't want him doing and removing him to something else to distract him. But he thinks this is just sooo funny, giggles and has a huge smile on his face.
It's very cute but also very frustating as he is obviously not understanding my meaning.

I've been told by 'well meaning' other to bite back and a smack on the hand will do the trick! neither option would work with me!

Anyone got any ideas?? It's a fairly small problem just now, i just don't want it to escalate!
thanks

Merry · #2 (**permalink**) 20-06-2008, 11:32 AM

my mum is one that says bite them back but that didn't really work for me, with the biting you could try showing it makes you sad when he does it if you know what I mean? dunno bout the drawer thing maybe just have them empty for a while

timestwo · #3 (**permalink**) 20-06-2008, 12:35 PM

Could you try giving him his very own draw?
Fill it with some of his favorite toys (and change them every couple of days) That way instead of saying no all the time when he opens the draws you could just say 'That's not you draw' then move him to his own cupboard saying 'Here's your draw'
I'm not sure about the biting but I'm sure there are plenty of mums that have some good ideas.

marchbean · #4 (**permalink**) 20-06-2008, 01:38 PM

With biting, we've had some success with just getting up and stopping all play. If he is sitting on our lap, we put him down. We usually don't say anything at all - but all fun and games stop for a few minutes. Its working so far. Another thing to consider is when does he bite? I found mine would bite would he was tired.

To save your sanity I would try to find anyway you can to lock the draws or remove anything of danger out of them. You will go insane trying to keep him out (I know from experience

) I love 1sttime's idea of giving him his own draw.

Good luck

Marmee · #5 (**permalink**) 20-06-2008, 01:40 PM

Definitely providing him with something he "can" do - like his own drawer.

We try and stay away from "no" as much as we can. Not only do little baby's not understand, but I think how frustrating would it be, for me, as an adult, to be told "no" to all the fun things I want to do? They are simply little experimenters - so in our house, if DS is getting in to a drawer, we simply close it, pick him up and say "this drawer is for Mummy's craft (or whatever it is). Let's play in this drawer". We also do all we can to make the environment a "yes" environment - so we have absolutely nothing on coffee tables, all our low drawers have junk in them that we can just toss back in, there are no breakables at arms reach, doors to rooms that we don't want him in are shut, cupboards we don't want opened have latches on them, etc.

Re: the biting......again, some babies think the sudden loud "no" is fun - hence the giggling. Mummy went from saying nothing to this single loud word all in the space of a nano-second

DS is also goingt hrough a biting stage (just turned one yesterday) - all related to teething here

He will come up and bite me through my pants - ouch. We just recognise his need to chew and pop something else in his mouth (teething ring, rusk, piece of apple)

It *is* frustrating, I hear you - I find myself flinching in anticipation sometimes.

learnermum · #6 (**permalink**) 20-06-2008, 02:01 PM

Thank you all for your replies!

I have this morning emptied all the drawers as I could feel myself about to lose it! No idea what to do with all the stuff, but thats another issue!We really didn't think about kids when we bought our coffee table, it has 16 drawers in it!

His biting is teething related, I know he isn't biting to hurt but he has drawn blood before through my jeans!!! I'm going to try hard to stop saying no and just stop the action! I'm not liking the mum I am just now as all i seem to do is say no or stop that, it's really not what i want our home enviroment to be about.
Oh and he does have his own drawer in the kitchen full of my tupperware which he will gladly empty several times a day! but thanks for the advice sometimes the obviuos is staring us right in the face, we just can't see it.

thanks again

theycallmemum · #7 (**permalink**) 24-06-2008, 10:25 AM

Hi learnermum,
I first must say I can just se your son doing that now! He looks so cheeky so can see how frustration yet cute it can be. Biting, try to divert him from biting before he does so. Saying "no" does make you feel like a broken record. The drawers, tell me about it! My two and half year old still does this and it drives me crazy. I no longer have any personal items such as private cards my partner has written to me over the years and the other day I located my passport floating around the house.

The only way is to childproof them. I did this by tying shoelaces around the knob and in one set of drawers I used an occy strap. Now you need to tell me how to stop her from opening the fridge!

0BleSseD0 · #8 (**permalink**) 24-06-2008, 11:54 AM

Bite a baby back..

?

Whenever my two did something I wouldn't accept (like Baylee's hair pulling) I would pick them up, turn them around and face them away from whatever is happening. Sometimes in the next room even.

A quick 'no' and a picking up and removing from the fun is enough for mine..

Might be worth a try?

ETA: Theycallmemum, I got an appliance lock from target when xSS would open the doors and steal food. Granted, once he got older he could unlock it and steal things anyway.. But yeah it might cause him to lose interest in it.

sallyn · #9 (**permalink**) 04-07-2008, 12:19 AM

You can get a velcro sticky strap thing from bunnings to go on your fridge above reaching height of your child.

sallyn · #10 (**permalink**) 04-07-2008, 12:23 AM

My bub was biting my boob at 7 months and laughing when I said 'no' very frustrating and painful. I rarely say No now. Instead I say 'Uh uh' She is now 12 months and copies me saying 'Uh uh' and always stops what she is doing. i read somewhere that a sound like 'uh uh' is better than the word no. This sounds terrible, but it is like when you train your dog it is much more effective to growl 'arrrh' instead of saying 'No'

As for biting the child back. I know lots of people who do this. It is terrible. i believe it will just teach your child to bite. same as smacking teaches a child to smack. model the behaviour you want to see. and let him know how much it hurts you.