Health Topics for Child Health and Development

UI Children's Hospital

UI Family Care Centers

Divisions Within the Department of Pediatrics

Iowa Registry for Congenital and Inherited Disorders

Biting: A Common Behavioral Concern

Two-year-old Amy is having a problem with biting behavior, both at home and in day care. At home, biting occurs primarily when her parents divert their attention from Amy. Although they have attempted to teach her that biting is not an appropriate behavior, either at home or at the day care center, it continues to happen.

Her biting behavior appears to be maintained, at least in part, by the attention she receives from her parents when it occurs. We recommended that they try giving her a time-out, for two minutes, whenever biting occurs, without any discussion of her behavior. When Amy uses biting to get the attention of her parents, she is immediately placed in her "time-out chair," for two minutes. Her parents don't scold, or discuss her behavior. At the end of two minutes, if she is calm, she can rejoin her family.

We also recommended that Amy's parents positively reinforce appropriate alternative behaviors. For example, if Amy asks her father to look at her drawing, he is to stop whatever he is doing for a moment, and talk with her about her picture.

Amy's biting soon decreased significantly at home but continued to occur while she was at day care. Day care staff members were hesitant to use time-outs, and discussion frequently occurred following a biting incident. Amy's biting became so problematic that staff members were considering dismissing her from the day care service. For this reason, her parents asked us to conduct an outreach meeting, during which our pediatric psychologist met with day care staff.

The psychologist explained that Amy's biting behavior could be viewed as an inappropriate means of communicating, one that accomplished such outcomes for Amy as access to a toy held by a peer, or attention from an adult. For this reason, discussion--that is, attention--immediately following biting would reinforce her behavior.

The psychologist recommended that Amy be given two minutes of non-exclusionary time-out--removal from the situation to the edge of the activity, so that she could still observe the reinforcement of the appropriate behavior of other children--immediately upon each instance of biting or attempts to bite. The psychologist recommended that following each time-out, Amy be allowed to return to the activity in which the biting occurred, and that she be shown or told a more appropriate way to communicate her needs.

Whenever Amy communicated appropriately, it was recommended that she be allowed to accomplish her desired outcome. For example, if Amy asked to be allowed to hold a stuffed toy, she was to be permitted to do so. This would reinforce the appropriate, non-biting behavior. Over a period of several weeks, this approach was successful, and Amy is no longer using biting to communicate her needs, at home or in day care.

Background

All children go through a "biting phase." Many infants will bite, especially when they are teething, unaware that this causes discomfort. These episodes are not malicious, but over time a child may learn to use biting as an inappropriate means of communication.

Biting by toddlers is also very common, often occurring in preschool or day care settings. Typically, toddlers use biting to obtain desired outcomes. Sometimes a toddler bites to escape an undesired activity, such as picking up toys. In older children, biting may be related to poor social skills, such as not knowing how to interact with other children. For children who have trouble expressing themselves verbally, biting can become an effective, if inappropriate, way to communicate.

An Ounce of Prevention.

You can often prevent a child's use of biting to communicate by:

1. Giving the child every opportunity to behave well. Encourage the child to participate in supervised sharing and turn-taking activities, including activities with slightly older children who have good social skills.
2. Lavish attention on the child who is "being good." Reinforce appropriate behavior, whether interactions occur with children or adults. For example: "Aren't you a good helper!" or "Thank you for sharing your crayons!" or "I'm glad you asked if we can rest now. I'm getting tired, too!"
3. 3. Stop biting before it starts. Monitor roughhousing. Guide children to more appropriate activities before unwanted behavior occurs.
4. What's the magic word? Help the child use appropriate communication--language and gestures--to get what is wanted, with children as well as adults.

An Ounce of Cure.

When inappropriate behavior occurs:

1. Use "time-outs." When a child bites, remove the child immediately from the situation to a designated "time-out" location in the room. It doesn't need to be in a separate room, but should not permit the child to engage in rewarding activities. Have the child remain in time-out for one minute per year of age; for example, four minutes for a four-year-old.
2. Don't reward the biting by discussing it during the time out. Remove the child, without discussion, from the situation that led to the biting. Don't scold or talk about his or her behavior during the time-out.
3. 3. Communicate about communication. When the time-out is over, let the child return to the activity in which the biting occurred. Now is the time to talk about appropriate ways to communicate. For example, "Angie, I know you really like to use the toy phone. Next time you want to talk on the phone, ask Tony if you can have a turn, too" or, "Jim, use your words and tell me what you want."
4. Follow through on requests. If the child bites when a request is made, such as picking up toys, make sure the child returns to this task following time-out and completes it before moving on to other, more fun activities.

Last Reviewed 2005

Source: Linda Cooper-Brown, Ph.D.
University of Iowa
Department of Pediatrics

Disclaimer: This content is reviewed periodically and is subject to change as new health information becomes available. The information provided is intended to be informative and educational and is not a replacement for professional medical evaluation, advice, diagnosis or treatment by a healthcare professional.