my 13 month old is being bitten at daycare!

Rachael - posted on 10/27/2012

Children do learn from each other however this does not mean that he will adapt to this type of behaviour. The child biting has an issue that he is dealing with on his own with his home life. Unfortunately, its very difficult to control other people's children but you can certainly remove your child from the day care. If he has had seven bites, its apparent that the day care is not correcting the situation. It is your job as a parent to keep your child out of harms way both physically and psychologically. It would be in your best interest to find another daycare to where your child is more comfortable.



P.S. I wouldn't say the experience would make him stronger- more resentful that you are sending him to a place where he is being hurt.

Charlene - posted on 10/22/2012

My baby girl came home with bite marks on her back on Friday. When I picked her up from school today, I asked the teacher about the bite marks because she was not there when I called about this on Friday. She said that my daughter has a habit of taking toys from kids and that is probably why she was bitten. Thing is, the school allows parents the opportunity to look in on the classes via web cam thru out the day and I keep my computer logged into this web cam while going about my day. My daughter seems to be pretty much of a loner. She plays alone and never approaches other children. I have however seen children approach her and on one incident, saw her struggle with a little boy over a toy which she had first! He snatched it away abruptly and then walked away and she sat there in her seat with her arms folded in front of her. I am really not happy with this and I know that I cannot be a constant complainer but if she comes home with another bite like this one, I will not take it lightly at all! This subject really has me on edge! Lol! Sorry...

Starr - posted on 10/22/2012

I had this issue when my now 13 year old was in a toddler room at daycare. The school would call me first to warn me before I picked her up. I think that it often starts with one kid and if not kept in check right away the others "learn" the behavior and before you know it there is an entire class full of biting toddlers. The last straw was when a bite to the face had broken the skin, we changed daycare's at the point. I'm not going to send my child anywhere she is being abused regardless the age of the abuser. I would hope that daycare would be a place of enjoyment for our children and if they are unhappy I have no problem finding a more pleasurable place.

Cheryl - posted on 09/15/2012

I am not excusing the biting, but being a director at a daycare, sometimes there are circumstances out of a teachers hands... if a child is a biter, and they wont expel the student, then there is little more a teacher can dp other than try to watch the kids every second of the day, which is almost impossible, with diaper changes and stuff... biting is normal at that stage, its another alternative to hitiing, since at that age they can't effectively use their words.... its just a stage... not saying its ok, but you will fond a biter at almost any daycare you are at...

Bethany - posted on 09/14/2012

my son will be 3 in feb and was being bitten at least every 2nd day hes only in daycare 2 days a week and it was starting to shit me i had approached the careres and made them aware of the biting and as it turns out it was a young girls whos dad is a doc n mum ambo driver who never have time for her but give her everything she wants, found out thru a workmate whos daughter is a career in a younger class, but this kid has been doing the biting since she started and its only gotten worse cos mum n dad have no time for her! at first i was fairly casual bout the bite but in the last month he had 6 bites in 4 weeks of 2 days i threatened leagal action and non payments of fees, and amazing the child is now being dealt with and he hasnt had a bite in nearly 3 weeks :)

Christina - posted on 09/13/2012

Thought I'd follow up now that DS is three years old! I never knew who was doing the biting. The teacher was too shy to talk to me and I worked really hard to word my questions delicately because she was shy and I didn't want to be confrontational--I just wanted to know what was going on with my son. He had so many bite marks, it was hard to tell which ones were new and they were missing some of the new ones.



I never got a complete story and they kept the biters confidential. Apparently there were 4-5 different kids biting him. The excuse I heard was that he was too social and was getting in their space by trying to play with other kids. One account was that he hugged a "friend" and that kid bit him because he was too close. Just broke my heart.



After he had a bite on his face, I spoke with the director and they moved him to the next toddler room--so the kids were 16-20 months and he was 13 months. The biting stopped almost completely. I know biting at this age is normal, and I was much happier with 1-2 incident reports a month, not reports on a daily basis. So I think two things were happening--my son was around different kids and the new teachers were aware of the problem and on top of it a bit more.



It felt so much better when he could talk to me and tell me when someone hurts him. A few months ago, a friend bit him and he could tell me and the teachers (who didn't see it happen) who did it and why. Apparently my son took a toy from a friend and his friend bit him. So we could turn in into a learning experience. We could talk to my son about sharing and asking for a turn, and talk to the other boy that he shouldn't bite and if someone takes something, he should try to use his words or ask a teacher for help.

Lauren - posted on 09/07/2012

I worked in lots of day cares and this is common with kids that age. This is just a common thing with that age sorry you don't feel comfortable but it happens alot! If you don't like it or feel like the day care provider isnt watching you child talk to the owner/director or switch day cares and see maybe the next one will be better! Hope you get answers and hope the biteing stops maybe you can stop in once day also and see what is really going on don't tell the teacher/director and I would just stop in and watch from the outside see what is really going on you have every right and I would do that until you get answers random times I would stop like one day 10 next day 3 or something!

Carmen - posted on 09/04/2012

Notify the newspaper and news media investigative reports. Also I would not leave my child there, obviously they don't watch them. The child that bites needs to be put on a time out or expelled. God only knoes what else is happening to your child.

Haley - posted on 08/29/2012

i worked in a daycare unfortunately the biting from another child you cant help but on the other hand tech your child that biting is wrong and if you see the parents of the child thats doing the biting talk to then unless the daycare is not telling you witch child is doing the biting , but its one of those things that its going to be in every daycare/ school .

Jessica - posted on 08/25/2012

I would switch daycares if that is to hard to do I would go after the day care. It is never easy when you do not know what is really happening an daycare teachers will lie to you to cover there but. Hope things work out for you an your son.

Carrie - posted on 08/23/2012

it's funny I just googled about a child getting bit and found this. My son is 16 months old and has been bit twice this week and it is only Thursday. I signed an incident report on Monday and Wednesday. He had gone through times of it being at least once a week and then would slow down. Thankfully he is the bitee and not the biter, but like I am reading, he certainly could go that way after beign bit.



I know they had said once on the side that once particular boy is a biter, but I don't know if it is always the same child. But they do say that the bite occurs after my son is trying to get a toy. Obviously we want to teach him to share.



I think I may talk to one of the teachers or the director today. We really love where he is, but I don't want this to be a typical day for him and then he starts biting. I assume if a child bites at school he must do it at home??

Sarah - posted on 07/15/2010

What did you learn when you pushed the teachers / administration at your child's center / provider? Is it still happening? I am just curious....

I would hate to think that ur non-biter would have to bite someone to make it stop. (Which is where I was when my daughter was bit)

Thinking of u and ur kiddo!

Krissy - posted on 07/14/2010

my son was bullied buy some of his now friends it only took him one bite back (1yr later and i might add that it was on both side a secretive thing as we both complained about the bites on our children when we went to give a bath) to stop the odd biting attack. but at 13 months they should be looking and watching the kids. the day care i send my boy to always have one extra person in the rooms instead of the recomended 3 or so( i dont know if yours is a big one or small) and they are always attentative at what is happening in the babys room. they also have big windows that is next to the 'big kids ' play ground and sometimes if there isnt a teacher ( extramly rare as sometimes you get 3-4 babys on the go i know i stayed back in the very start of open a few times til the other teachers came and it was usually the only 3-4bubs that was in the room at the time ) the 'big kids' dob on the babys lol it is quite ammusing.( in the fact a 3 yr old is accually paying attention and tell on them) 13 month olds are testing the waters to see what they can and cant do some dont know how to react to biting or pushing from other ' bigger kids' ( say 15 months upwards) they are placid and sometimes it just goes over thier heads and moves on other times they cry because they felt the hurt your little one probably has the 'chill' factor and he just cruses along till one kid gets to him one day and thats all that it takes for the others to leave him alone. i hope this helps i also think you may need to see about other day cares to see if they have a good rep.

Alice - posted on 07/13/2010

My 4 year old neice was expelled from day care from continueing to bite other kids. [Houston]
My grandson was bitten several times at daycare. Most of the time the bruises and bite marks were found during bath time. A sure sign the day care personal is not watching or interveining when children are hurt or crying. The workers never reported the bites. I was upset that he was left in the enviorment that was not safe for him. A talk with the director on several occasions made little difference. My feeling is that you need to demand a safe enviornment for your child. My grandson was seperated from the individuals he had been bitten by.

Sarah - posted on 07/13/2010

I would also be upset. I would hope that they are watching the kiddos that are the bitters to ensure that they are not biting others.
Does the center / provider have a written policy about what steps will be taken if a child is a bitter...can you push for those steps to be followed? Can you "move" your child to a new location....is it always the same child or is it a different child each time .....where is the location of the bit on the hand / arm or all over?!

My daughter was bit once this fall 2 weeks into our new placement and I was very upset. It was a 1in around bruise...NOT HAPPY...and then to find it on my own only made it worse. Thankfully it never happened again...but..I think all those questions are that are fair to ask.

Hugs....

Christina - posted on 07/13/2010

Thanks, Louise. We're going to have a serious conversation with the daycare staff today.

Louise - posted on 07/13/2010

If your son is being bitten at day care then it is the day cares responsibility to remove the child that bites. This sounds like they have a child that is a repeat offender for biting as it is not that common and I find it hard to believe that your child is just unlucky and gets bitten by every body. Make a note of when he has been bitten and go and see the manager. It is there job to protect your child, your child is the victim here. Demand that the child is removed from the toddler room if they can not stop him/her from biting and believe me a parent will do something about there childs behaviour if they are threatened with removal from day care. Not acceptable go and complain. I am a pre school teacher and I would not allow this to go on in my class room, it does not matter how old the child is they need to be told off and stopped.