My First Direct Experience with a Biter

[NightOwl]

I need advice. I owned a center for years but never directly dealt with a biter in the caregiver capacity. I was called in during the aftermath. I've been doing home daycare for 14 months and this is my first biter.

I've had him from infancy, he's 18 months now. He's bit 3 times, but spaced far apart. About 2 weeks between the first and second bite (same child) and about a month between second and third bites (different child). He attempted to bite one other time but I caught him in time (a third child).

He sometimes does the fake bite where he puts his mouth on someone but doesn't actually bite. I've started to log these incidents to see if there is any pattern, and the only things I've identified are things I can rule out. He's not doing it to one child only, and he's not doing it out of anger or frustration.

So how would you guys handle this? How do you "break" biting? I'm kind of at a loss because this isn't the usual biting behaviors I'm used to. At the center, when a child started to bite, he/she would bite or attempt to bite frequently. This little guy just does it randomly with long periods in between and without provocation. And because of the long periods in between, shadowing isn't really an option.

[Heidi]

Give him something he CAN bite. Every time you see him flash those teeth, say "bite this" and put it to his mouth..

I use a pacifier strap with a teether on it.

I promise you, with the toddler set, this works!

Oh, and if you observe him closely, you'll probably find out there are a few more incidents you would have missed, and he's probably biting other things...toys, his utensils, the baby gate, his fingers.

[Chellieleanne]

My DCB would bite when he first started. It was every two weeks or so and after the third time I told mom she might need to find some where different. What I did to limit the biting from the first incident was more closely observe him. I figured out he would bite because he wasn't getting his way. So I would limit situations where he would fight over toys.

My own 2 yo bite that same DCB today his first time biting and because dcb was trying to take something from my son and I didn't get involved soon enough. They usually resolve things on their own but I guess not today. So I get to watch my own kid more closely now to be sure he doesn't get into a situation where he will bite.

Joys of watching kids and the things we out up with!

[Shell]

Give him something he CAN bite. Every time you see him flash those teeth, say "bite this" and put it to his mouth..

I use a pacifier strap with a teether on it.

I promise you, with the toddler set, this works!

Oh, and if you observe him closely, you'll probably find out there are a few more incidents you would have missed, and he's probably biting other things...toys, his utensils, the baby gate, his fingers.

Agree!

[Daycare Insurance]

I would like to encourage the logging of the situations and what you are doing to address it, like you have been. It might even help you discover some type of pattern. The documentation could also help in the event of an accident medical or liability claim.

[Blackcat31]

I would like to encourage the logging of the situations and what you are doing to address it, like you have been. It might even help you discover some type of pattern. The documentation could also help in the event of an accident medical or liability claim.

This is excellent advice.

I document EVERYTHING. Like literally everything it seems and I cannot tell you how many times I was grateful to have that documentation.

Each entry IS forming a big picture and sometimes those little occurrences mean nothing until you put all the pieces together and go "Aha!"

[NightOwl]

Daily Connect has a diary feature and I started using it for this. It will even display the events in graph form, so I'm hoping I can put my finger on the exact issue.