Non-ID g/g twins, 22 months old, one biting the other a lot

[Janberryxx]

....and really badly. She's leaving red bruises that take up to a week to fade, and has even drawn blood. She also REALLY loves her twin, they play beautifully, she asks about her when she's not in the same room, points to her in photographs etc.
We don't know what to do about it as she doesn't understand when we shout at her "NO!", or move her across into the corner of the room temporarily.
We don't know how to manage it or how to respond at all.
Anyone had this problem? Any ideas?
Thanks in advance!

[twinnies26]

i don't have any really helpful advise but i have the same problem :( just came home late from work and been told DT1 bit her sister twice today really badly. She's been a serial biter since she was 1 but i really thought wed turned a corner lately...seems i was mistaken.

DT1 is like your girl, loves her sister deeply, plays nicely and is so affectionate to her sister - most of the time!

I did speak to a district developmental nurse during the summer about it and she said they can't really understand the consequences of what they are doing until they are almost 3. She told me to just ignore her when she does it and not to reprimand as much as i had been doing as it was an attention seeking act and that for her negative attention was better than no attention. Then she said to comfort the other child and take time to do a nice activity with her. It did help us though and there was a reduction in the frequency of the biting.

We also got a sticker reward system going (stickers going on the hand not a chart) and offered more praise to the biter in her daily life. The nurse recommended using different language with her too - things like ' i'm so proud of you for being a good girl.... i'm so happy when you play so nicely with your sister etc.. and praising for no real reason either, praising when things are quiet and content (not that we didn't praise her in the first place!)

I'm writing in a hurry so reply might be bit jumbled... and i've no majic solution. Just sympathy! it's so upsetting when one gets hurt so badly :(

[toomuchpink]

Both of ours bite each other I am sad to say. We haven't found a good way of dealing with it really. I think I posted about it myself once and people talked about excluding the biter from play for a bit as a punishment ie) putting the child in a travel cot or removing from the room. I've not implemented this myself, but feel perhaps I should