Biting at daycare

Has anyone had experience with their child being bit at daycare? Some backstory-my son is 19 months old and has been at a chain daycare since he was 6 months old. He goes three days a week. In a years time, he has been bitten 6 times. Each time, I'm given an incident report. 3 of those times were within 6 weeks…My husband and I met with the director and we're told that they would be on top of it. Well one day this week I find three bite marks on him- no incident report which either means that they are trying to keep it a secret from me or that they don't know it happened which to me is worse! These are full on bite marks- my son still has bruises two days later. I took pictures and asked both the teacher and director about it the following day. The teacher and aide know nothing about it. The director says she will speak to teacher about it. Her solution is to move my son up to the next classroom. I'm not happy with this response. I don't think this really addresses the issue. Besides this issue, I've been very happy with the facility but I'm so upset and am feeling like I should look into other programs. But also don't want to uproot my son. Im curious what other facilities policies are regarding biting? I feel like the child biting should be shadowed. Am I wrong to think that? Thank you! Feeling the working mom guilt big time!

Biting at daycare

I agree and was in this same situation when my oldest was in daycare. They ended up shadowing the child to catch him before he had the opportunity to bite. Toddlers bite and I know it's common but doesn't seem right for your child to have to move?

Biting at daycare

I agree and was in this same situation when my oldest was in daycare. They ended up shadowing the child to catch him before he had the opportunity to bite. Toddlers bite and I know it's common but doesn't seem right for your child to have to move?

Re: Biting at daycare

Shadowing is a totally appropriate response although I wouldn't have a problem with my child being removed from the biter. Even with shadowing, they can figure out triggers and re-direct, but your child still may get bitten as it can happen very quickly. I've witnessed that with my own kids.

My younger one was in a room with a few biters and then he started biting. Shadowing helped, but there was still biting from time to time. That age is tough because they don't have the words to communicate. I hope they find a solution soon.

Re: Biting at daycare

I agree that shadowing is appropriate, too. Do you know that it's the same child doing the biting every time?

DS was bitten a few times around that age and also bit others twice in retaliation. It's very common around 1.5-2yo because the children want to express themselves but don't know how to say everything and so their quick reflexes is to be physical or bite. Hopefully the biter outgrows this quickly. However, it needs to be reinforced at daycare and at home that it's not ok.

Biting at daycare

My DS was bit a few times at daycare Each time I spoke with the teachers to understand what was happening when DS was bit. At that age biting can happen because they don;t have the ability to use their words and can get frustrated. I wanted to make sure my DS was not doing anything to be a part of the issues - such as stealing toys etc. To me if my son is instigating he is part of the issue. Both incidents were unprovoked and the daycare said they would separate and also watch the other child. Our daycare will also remove the biter from the school if it is an ongoing issue. So if it is the same child all those times I would ask that the child be removed. It is very common to "kick" a child out if biting is not taken care of because the child is not only a danger to the other kids but also staff.

I would have a sit down with the director and teachers. Moving your child to the next level room is one solution but is your child ready to move up?

Re: Biting at daycare

Re: Biting at daycare

Thank you for the feedback. They can't legally tell me who the biter is but by process of elimination we figured it out and they confirmed that the three times in 6 weeks was this same kid. The incident reports do give a little information but not much. One of the times my son was bitten on his back while he was sleeping. I'm sympathetic to the other child because there are a lot of changes going on at home and I know that biting happens out of frustration and lack of ability to communicate. Plus I know that it could very well be my child who ends up biting next - he can be a handful. so my concern is less with the child and more with the level of supervision provided. How is it that my son was bitten three times in one day without anyone noticing? Hard enough that there are still marks days later?

When I mentioned to the teacher that the directors solution was to move him up, she was surprised becaus she doesn't feel he's ready. I guess I just want to feel like the director is taking this as seriously as I feel it is and is doing everything she can to resolve it. Thank you!

Re: Biting at daycare

Re: Biting at daycare