Help my 17 month old bites wqay too much n it hurts!!!?

my 17 month old is really bad bout biting. i have two boys besides him n i dont think they have ever been this bad. I'm a softy so the biting back or smacking him is really hard for me to do. is there anything else. he really bites hard! lol the bad thing is he bites strangers to but its mostly me n his brothers. he demands my attention n clings to me all day and if i hold or pay more attention to my other kids he gets really bad. please anyone have advise? i really appreciate it . thanx. :)