My child has been bitten at daycare!?

Question

My daughter has been bitten three times at daycare. Is this a normal occurence? Can I do anything about it? She will occasionally bite me and her daddy but has never bitten another kid. I don't want her learning that this is okay! When she bites me I tell her no and tell her to apologize for hurting mommy. Should I just let it go? My husband says the other parents should teach their children its not okay to bite. What should I do?

Answer 1

you should talk to the teacher about this bitting thing or maybe you just need to take her out of that daycare and put her in a diffrent one but if she continues with the bitting you need to punish her however you punish at home

Answer 2

You're right, it's not okay to bite, but please be understanding and empathetic with the other parents.  I went through this with my daughter, she was the biter.  She always bit the same one girl.  The parents were upset (obviously) and we would go round and round with them and they would argue with my daycare provider.  We did discipline our daughter and try to teach her that it's not okay to bite, but the other parents were so upset they wanted my daughter kicked out of daycare.  Fortunately my daycare provider sided with me and tried to explain to them that we were working with my daughter and she was not kicking her out of dc.  Eventually they left the dc and my daughter quit biting!!!  It's been over a year since she's bitten. It was a phase she went through and I hated it. I was in tears every day and I didn't know what to do. Everyone kept telling me she'd outgrow it and it didn't seem like it but she did.  So please be understanding with the other parents. No one TEACHES their kid to bite, some do and some don't.  Talk to your dc provider and see what kind of discipline is being done and how they're teaching the other child that biting is wrong. If the bite hasn't broken the skin, I wouldn't worry. Be patient this other kid will outgrow it too. In the meantime maybe your dc provider can keep them separated.

Answer 3

Be on that day care like white on rice there is no reason that child should remain there if the continue to bite. It is not only teaching your child bad things but can be a health concern is skin is broken. I know all kids bite but if it is a continuing issue something more needs to be done.

Answer 4

spank her! she should learn the hard way! thats what my mom does to my little sister! she bites to!

Answer 5

First of all, biting is normal behavior for toddlers and younger preschoolers. You need to ask the day care what they are doing to protect the children and to teach the biter(s) better behavior. Is there a plan in place beyond saying"no"?) Is the child being shadowed by an adult? You don't say how old the children are but if they are still quite young the biter may need something he can bite instead if the problem is that his teeth hurts. Are the children being taught the words they need to express frustration or unhappiness ? Some kids bite because they don't know how to ask for what they want or make another child stop bothering them. The most important thing is that the program is doing something, not just hoping the biter(s) will stop. By the way, biting the biter back only teaches them that violence is the way to get what they want and, more to the point, could and should cost the provider her license.

Answer 6

We cured our 3 by biting back may be not as hard but enough to let them realize it does hurt.

You will find later when they bite and you go to do it back they will yell the place down because they know!!!!!

Answer 7

Unfortunaly, yeah it is a normal occurence in daycare. Children usually start biting when they are around 1 year and need to be taught biting is not ok.

There is nothing you can do about it except ask the daycare worker how she handled the situation.  If you think she has handled the situation properly let i go....If not you may want to find a new daycare..........although you may run into another bitter they are everywhere!

Answer 8

I would talk with the daycare provider and let her know your concerns, ask her how she handles it (with the child and the childs parents).  If this doesn't fix the problem then I would try finding another sitter.  A lot of daycare providers if the child won't stop misbehaving they will excuse the child who is misbehaving and you won't have to worry about it.

Answer 9

My mom did in home day care.  She had a few biters.  At toddler age, it's very normal, however NOT ok.

several parents had their own ideas about what she should do to help their child stop biting. But what really worked was biting them back.  Stopped everyone of them!

Answer 10

My dad always tells me about when I was in daycare in the early 80's!  He said that I used to come home every day and this girl named Neicy had bitten me and I would cry and whine, "Daddy. . .Neicy bite me!"  Based on that and what I've heard from other people, it's normal.  As long as you are teaching her not to do it, it should be ok.

Answer 11

I am sure the daycare provider and the parents are working on the problem.  You may find that this other child only bites at daycare just like yours tends to only bite you and daddy.  And as I am sure you are aware at that age discipline really only works if you do it right away.

However if the problem persists you might consider whether the care provider has more children then she can adequately supervise.