What To Do When Your Child Is Being Bitten On A Near Daily Basis?

[Silly Songs]

Some centers have rules that if a child bites a certain # of times in a day or in a week , they are to stay home a day . I think ours is 2x a day or 4 x a week . I am not sure if they really enforce it. I do know they give the parents of the biter a note every time it happens .

[renodeb]

That's a toughy! There is no quick solution to stop the biting. I would talk you the director and make sure they know your serious about the situation. Maybe a change is the answer for you if they can't find a solution.
Deb

[Bridgetns]

As a person who worked in a center, specifically in the 1-year-old class, I can tell you that it is REALLY hard to stop a toddler from biting.

I don't know how many kids they have in the room in your center, but ours was allowed 8 until we had to have a 2nd teacher in there.

And you can't keep a child in a time-out chair for longer than 5 minutes with state.

I would keep the 2 known biters in the chairs while I changed the other kids.

But when I put them down, it was like I had a room full of vampires and werewolves. There would be scratching ( even though I kept on parents to TRIM thier kids nails.... And there would be biting.

I would fuss at the biter, put them in time out, and console the bitee. Including showing the biter what they did, and that it isn't nice.

I felt bad for the ones that got bit, but 1/2 of the time it was their fault. They would be aggravating the biter ( taking toys, pushing, crawling on top of them). And until they are closer to 2 and can speak, biting is their form of communicating " get away from me".

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

As a person who worked in a center, specifically in the 1-year-old class, I can tell you that it is REALLY hard to stop a toddler from biting.

I don't know how many kids they have in the room in your center, but ours was allowed 8 until we had to have a 2nd teacher in there.

And you can't keep a child in a time-out chair for longer than 5 minutes with state.

I would keep the 2 known biters in the chairs while I changed the other kids.

But when I put them down, it was like I had a room full of vampires and werewolves. There would be scratching ( even though I kept on parents to TRIM thier kids nails.... And there would be biting.

I would fuss at the biter, put them in time out, and console the bitee. Including showing the biter what they did, and that it isn't nice.

I felt bad for the ones that got bit, but 1/2 of the time it was their fault. They would be aggravating the biter ( taking toys, pushing, crawling on top of them). And until they are closer to 2 and can speak, biting is their form of communicating " get away from me".

I have had the same experience as far as biters go (when I worked in a daycare center and in my own in-home).
Now that I operate an in-home, I have children for many years instead of just a bit before they leave for the next room. The only real biter I have had in this business always bit ONE child. As they grew up, they became "friends" but they fought worse and aggravated each other more than any sibling set I have ever seen. They were truly frenemies and it appeared to start from the beginning. Very interesting.

[nanglgrl]

I have had the same experience as far as biters go (when I worked in a daycare center and in my own in-home).
Now that I operate an in-home, I have children for many years instead of just a bit before they leave for the next room. The only real biter I have had in this business always bit ONE child. As they grew up, they became "friends" but they fought worse and aggravated each other more than any sibling set I have ever seen. They were truly frenemies and it appeared to start from the beginning. Very interesting.

I can attest to the same. Every biter I had only bit one other child, the child being bitten was always in the biters space..and they ended up playing together (and fighting with each other) as they grew.

[NightOwl]

I'm wondering if the op will update on what she decided to do? It sounds like they determined that he bites while they are occupied changing diapers and such, so why can't they segregate him during that time? Put him in his crib with a few toys or in a high chair with a few toys. Or have him sit in the floor next to the provider while she changes diapers. If they have identified when he does it, he should be separated from the group at those times.

[Unregistered]

made it first full week without a bite!

We made it through this week without a biting incident! I know that this might not seem like a huge deal to some, but after what we've been through, this was a much needed milestone. It also has been the longest stretch we've had since being moved to the toddler room a couple months back without a bite. I know there still may be further incidents in the future, but at least things seem to be trending in the right direction. We are really hoping this can continue, and we can stay with our current day care center. I know the staff there is trying to do everything they can to protect our child from being bitten, and it looks like they may have finally solved the puzzle of how to achieve that. They've at least bought themselves some more time to show they can indeed provide a safe environment for him, and have gotten us back off the ledge of pulling him out of their center.

I again want to thank everyone on here that has chimed in with some advice for us. We now have a backup plan in place in case this doesn't work out with our current center, and that alone helps my wife and I sleep better at night. I truly hope we never have to go to plan B, but at least it's ready to go in case we do need it.

I really can't explain how much this bite free week has meant to our family. I kinda want to go do a few cartwheels or something...

[racemom]

I bet the classroom teachers are happy too! Hopefully this will be the end of your problems and your family can continue in the center you like.

[racemom]

Sorry double post!

[Shell]

I will be frank. I would not drop my child off ANYWHERE that I believe they will be bitten. The only resolution after your explaining that your child is being bitten everyday is to take YOUR CHILD out of the situation.

I have a responsibility as a provider. Does biting happen? Yes. Have I got it under control? Yes. In a center situation, I would suggest since your child is the one who seems to be getting bitten daily that they shadow him until it curbs. Even so, as a parent it would’ve been already too much for me to subject my child to.

I wish you and your family the best.

no way would I subject my child to a situation where the odds of being bitten are 80-90%!!! Things may be going well for now, but if this happens again, I would pull. This stage of development is a huge reason I opened my own daycare. I have worked in multiple centers, and this is an issue at every single one of them- usually it's too many kids (even within ratio) in a small space, that cannot talk. Mixed age groups that are common in home daycares are a better fit because usually your child is with fewer children in his age group, and the older kids set a great example (for the most part). I personally am not a fan of large centers for the little ones, IMHO.

[daycarediva]

No offense intended to responsible centers, however, at some centers, your kid is $200/week. Nothing more. So is the kid who is biting. If a child is biting another 90% of days for 2 months, the child should have been removed from the center, IMO. I'm very willing to work with a biter, but for this to continue to happen so often, for so long, they're not taking the appropriate steps to stop the behavior. For example: a biter has to stay right next to me until their behavior improves-I do my darndest to make sure that the opportunity to bite doesn't arise. It doesn't work 100% of the time, but it should work more than 10%-20% of the time.

I agree that I would find a family child care who can focus more attention on supervision.

Sadly, I agree with this. Had this child been enrolled in my daycare, he would have been put on probation, a plan of action would have been put into place, and he would have been shadowed. IF I couldn't COMPLETELY STOP the biting, he would have been terminated.

no way would I subject my child to a situation where the odds of being bitten are 80-90%!!! Things may be going well for now, but if this happens again, I would pull. This stage of development is a huge reason I opened my own daycare. I have worked in multiple centers, and this is an issue at every single one of them- usually it's too many kids (even within ratio) in a small space, that cannot talk. Mixed age groups that are common in home daycares are a better fit because usually your child is with fewer children in his age group, and the older kids set a great example (for the most part). I personally am not a fan of large centers for the little ones, IMHO.

I agree. I love having 2 of 'each' age. ( 2 2yos, 2 3yos, 2 4yos). Parents hear "Kids their own age" and don't see the huge downfalls.

[Unregistered]

have u talked to them about possibly suspending the biter for a few days if he continues to bite. Sooo sorry this is happening!