My son is the biter :(

hollytony

My son has been in daycare at a center since he was 3 months old. He is now 14 months and has started biting at daycare. He doesn't bite at home so I haven't been able to watch what is going on when it does happen. Does anyone have any good ideas of how to keep my son from biting. They tried to give him his paci during the day too try to stop the biting but it hasn't been working. I know I was so upset when he would get bit at daycare when he was younger and now I feel worse that he is the one biting now!

groovygrl

Sorry to hear that.

My DD bit my DS quite a bit for awhile tho only bit someone else one time at daycare, and DS bit DD a few times & one time another kid at DC and also was bitten several times by a child at daycare so I've been on both ends of it...

 Our approach was a very firm NO BITE (I used to put my finger right on her mouth to make sure that she got that 'bite' was related to teeth/mouth just in case), immediate time out and afterward a talk about teeth being for eating food. She could always parrot back the whole thing to me ("teeth are for chewing food, not for biting people" etc) & would even laugh about the whole deal so it was not as easy as it seems.

Mine were a little older though, more around 2, so at 14 months, redirecting, having a consistent approach but still saying NO BITE immediately and making sure LO knows what 'bite' even is, is probably all you can do, esp since you're not there. Prevention at DC is the best thing, figuring out what is precipitating it, and they are likely doing that at DC I'm sure, you could ask if they've noticed particular things and maybe you can somehow work on that when you're around w/ other kids.  It can take awhile for some kids to stop even with doing all the things you're 'supposed' to do. DD was biting him for quite some time on & off and even now they're over 3 and she will still try it once in awhile if she gets really frustrated with him but now they can tell on each other & it is a lot easier to deal with.

GL

loganlac

DD has been on both sides and I actually feel 10x worse when she is the biter.  I know how you feel and since DD never does this at home, daycare tries to help out but says its common at this stage.  Usually she is teething when she does it and she can't quite communicate what she wants so she gets frustrated.  Those two things combines equals biting in our situation.  Don't worry - your child isn't the only one, its just a phase!

EMOmamma

So is my son.  He never bit until about 20 months, it's been going on for a few weeks now. We're at our wits end with him. They shadow but he's really random, no regular triggers. He has to sit next to the teacher whenever she changes a diaper or is prepping food, anything where she's not 100% engaged b/c that's when he usually bites.  

We've tried a lot of things and none of it helps. I'm picking up some more books from the library today (both parenting books and kids books for him to read).  I've also scheduled a dentist appointment to make sure there isn't some medical problem (besides regular teething - he is getting his 2yr molars).