Biting at Daycare

Over the past couple of weeks, my DS has been bit at daycare a few times. Apparently he is the only child in his class that this other child has gone after.

I understand that toddlers go through this phase but on the other hand, I feel that if I am paying for a center to watch my kid, that I should be able to drop him off and not have to worry about him getting bit. There are other issues that we deal with such as him hitting his head on toys, falling, etc.

The daycare wants to have a meeting with me this week and go over what they are doing to help the situation. They said when this happened, they would pull the child to the side and read him a book about biting. Does that really work at 21 months? They can really comprehend a book? I know it happens so fast and I feel the only solution is to make sure there is another teacher with the child to help prevent it.

Any other suggestions? Am I overreacting on this?

Biting at Daycare

They need to shadow the biter. Get an extra teacher if need be to be on top of that child. I would never believe this happens but when I worked in DC there was 1 biter and he only bit 1 kid consistently. It was awful. Sometimes we didn't catch it and downtime sits was multiple times in a day. It was insane. We wound having an extra teacher shadow him all day. Never left his side.

I'm sorry this is happening. It stinks and there's no rhyme or reason for that biter to be "picking" on 1 kid. It just happens. It's awful.


He def needs to be removed from the situation each and every time it happens.

Re: Biting at Daycare

how many times as he been bit? how did they handle it each time? was skin broken?

my DD was bit once no skin broken and i was fuming but i had to step back and realize that my DD could bite another child and it happens but if she was bit more then 3 times i would have a big issue with the daycare.

im paying a s*it load of money for you to WATCH my child not have her bitten. if a teach cant handle the 5 children that's an issue as well. i would def go speak with them and get every detail of how it happened.

i would also think that the others child's parent needs to discipline at home for the biting?

Biting at Daycare

My DS has been bit 2-3 times at daycare. Was always a different kid. I spoke to the daycare to make sure my DS was not doing something to provoke the bite.

I would wait until you meet with daycare. They should put a plan in place so I would not jump to anything until you hear them out.

Re: Biting at Daycare

They need to shadow the biter.

They also need to shadow your son if he's falling down and still a little unsteady on his feet. This was happening to my son at his daycare and shadowing him is exactly what they did until he was a little more sure-footed.

Re: Biting at Daycare

Yes we had one girl at my son's daycare who had an issue with this.

They shadowed her and worked with her very consistently and also spoke with the parents to continue the message at home.

Within a few weeks of really being on top of it she was literally cured. She worked through that phase and has been wonderful since.

So, it really does work wonders.

Meet with them and hear the whole story but yeah I would suggest that.

ETA -- she really did have a penchant for biting my son!

Message edited 9/1/2015 3:03:42 PM.

Re: Biting at Daycare

My son has been bit twice by this kid. Once on his arm, the other on his back. Yes, it has left marks, which lasted a few days but the skin was not broken - yet.

I insisted that they have an extra teacher in his class to monitor this and if they cannot get one, the child has been removed and put into a little older class. Apparently, they said the child is doing it because he is teething and cannot communicate when he is frustrated. They requested the parents bring in teething rings.

What made me more crazy was they would not tell me which kid it was, which I get however, if my son could talk, I would know. I felt like they are benefiting because my son cannot tell me.

Re: Biting at Daycare

Biting at Daycare

It is policy at any daycare that they cannot tell you the name of the child. If your kid talks and tells you it's one thing, but they can't tell you themselves.

Re: Biting at Daycare

I've been on both sides of biting at day care. When my son was the biter, he got time out as soon as he got home, no tv/tablet that night and we reminded him "no biting" over and over and over again.

When he was bitten, we reminded him "no biting" so make sure he didn't retaliate. His teachers kept him away from the biter as much as possible.

In both cases, it never happened again.

ETA: No day care will tell you who the biter is. But, once your child is verbal, they may tell you. My son, now 2.5, was bitten a month or so ago and he told us who bit him.

Message edited 9/1/2015 7:07:51 PM.