14-Month-old Is a Biter

My sister was a biter. And generally biting occurs when they are frustrated but can't communicate so that people understand, so they bite to get someone's attention. You, of course don't want to necessarily wait until she bites again, but when she does remove her immediately. we had to isolate my sister for a time. Of course, we kept re-iderating that she can't because she bit so-and-so. Maybe they have a separate area that can be gated off.

you could try teaching her baby signs. to see if that helps her communicate better.

If she's an only child she may be struggling with sharing at daycare whether it's space or toys.

Because at some point the other little boy may clock her back. And while you don't want to promote that, it may be him knocking her down for her to understand what hurt means.

If you watch her behavior right up to the infraction you might be able to discern something that she does that might be a key to either re-directing her or thwarting a confrontation. However, it may be very difficult depending on how many kids the center has compared to staffing. If she's truly only doing it at daycare, then you need the staff to give you more detailed info other than "she bit joey because he was in her way." Insist on it. It will probably mean they have to keep a dedicated chaperone with her for a period to try and determine what's causing it.

For instance, is it when their going to snack and she's not wanting to wait her turn. I do think many daycares anymore get very lazy about really determining the cause & effect of problems they just want to pass them off as the parent's issue, but how are you to know unless you take off work.

Hi A.!
Jacqui's response is excellent! Although, I have never had a biter, my girlfriend did. After trying many methods, she came up with this....When her daughter would bite someone, she would get out the vanilla extract. She would open it up and have her daughter smell how good it is. Then she'd say, "Let's have a taste." She would dab a little on her finger and have her daughter stick out her tongue. It smelled so good, that her daughter would willingly do it. Then mom would place her dabbed finger of vanilla on her tongue. What a rude awakening for the child!! LOL! She didn't like the taste, of course, but this mom says it only took once to cure her from biting, explaining to her little one that biting hurts and would not be tolerated. Then she left the vanilla out on the counter for a constant reminder for her child. She said the problem was solved. Don't know if this helps, just wanted to pass it along because it's unique.

Just Me!
S.

i worked at a daycare where we had a few children who had this problem one child bit and then it started with another one and suddenly we had 4 or 5 biters so we talked to a person that helps with those kind of problems and they offered some suggestions to us the first was to offer something else to bite on to hook a biting blanket to her clothes or a teether. the second was a book that she made it had pictures cut out of magazines they were a few pages of things it is ok to bite like fruit and teething toys and binkies and things like that. the other were pages we do not bite they were filled with pictures of children and animals and babies etc and the words were we don't bite our friends or our pets or babies because biting hurts. The pages were a quarter piece of pager and placed in zip lock bags the openings were sealed and sewn shut to make the book. The third suggestion was to see if it was because they were hungry. and the fourth was for us was if we noticed them get frustrated to intervene right away to help keep them from biting.

Sometimes kids do bite out of frustration or hunger or teething. Maybe you can find out if it happens at a certain time maybe they need a snack at that time. I hope it helps! You will be in my thoughts!

Sorry that you are going through this. My twin sister was a biter too and although I don't remember it now, my parents tell me that I was her favorite chew toy! She eventually outgrew it.

Parents Magazine March 2007 issue has a wonderful article on this very topic called "Careful, She Bites!" I think just by reading it, you will feel more encouraged about your situation. I just checked their website (www.parents.com) and this article will be available online on February 27. http://parents.com/parents/category.jhtml?categoryid=/tem...

Good luck!!

As a daycare provider who has had the biter child in my care it can be tough. Typically around this age many children do go through a biting or pushing stage. As an only child she does not need to share her toys thus you don't see any biting.

I also know how there always seems to be a child that always gets picked on. I had one shild that could be standing in the middle of the room and random children would just walk up to her a pick a fight.

Encourage your childcare provider to work with all the children about using there words. A 14-mo-old can very easily say "NO!" Also, the provider should be watching for cues your daughter may show just before she bites, this way she can step in and try to stop the behavior before it starts. Also, if it's the same toy your child fights for ask the provider if you can purchase an extra one and donated to the childcare. This may not solve the problem, I've had kids fight over one ball when there are two others that are the same on the shelf.

Hopefully this is just a stage and your child will stop when she learns her words.

A., my daughter at about that same age started doing that for about a week or two straight! Its horrible!
Teach her words like 'help', 'stop' and even a 'no' helps. You can be a great role model for this. You can set it up yourself at home, role play, that sort of thing. Daycares can really help to because they can help place the right words too.
ALso, ask them to change the room around a bit. If a child feels too clustered they could begin to bite out of anxiety.
Please just do not do the old advice and bite her. A child at that age does not understand empathy.
I taught in daycare on and off for about 6 years and worked in a classroom full of biters. There was one two year old girl, who was very bright, that had the words, but would bite out of attention. Make sure the daycare is giving an adequate amount of attention to each child. She may do it for reaction from the other child too.
If it gets really bad, sit down with the director with the daycare and devise a plan together and BE CONSISTANT! As for the child that got bit, no you do not need to write an apology letter. I think most moms understand this happens. I hope this all helps.

My younger sister was a biter and (this sounds very cruel) and my aunt, after getting bit, bit my sister back.

Is one of the children at the daycare teaching her bad habits? Has the provider said it she bites when she's provoked. She's young enough not to be able to understand that biting hurts. She needs to be shown.

The daycare provider should be able to show her how to behave.

Good Luck!!!!!