I can't tell you how many well-meaning people advocated this approach when my daughter was heavily into a biting phase - and she was barely over a year old:
From El Paso Times: Police say:
Man arrested for biting stepson A Las Cruces man was arrested by for biting his stepson after the boy did the same to a younger sibling, announced Las Cruces Police in a statement released Friday. Emmett G. McCrohan, 28, was arrested Thursday afternoon and charged with one count of intentional child abuse, a third-degree felony, said officials.
Las Cruces Police detectives said that McCrohan bit his stepson on the forearm hard enough to leave visible bruising.
According to officials, McCrohan told detectives that the 4-year-old bit a younger sibling three days earlier and he was trying to teach the boy a lesson on how much a bite hurts.