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Biting in daycare is a common occurrence and a concern among daycare providers and parents. However, it’s important to have a biting policy in your daycare in your handbook to protect both the biter and child who has been bitten. How do you handle biting? A daycare owner asks: I know biting is a normal toddler behavior. What is your policy on biting?
We asked the daycare owners on our Facebook page about their ideas for daycare theme weeks. Daycare owners responded to provide their experiences and suggestions. Here are some of the best responses. Thanks to all who respond and shared their expertise!
Also, if you want more info on biting in daycare, you may want to read:
Tips for Hitting, Biting, and Aggression in Daycare Part 1
Hitting and Biting Policies for Daycare Businesses
Why Do Children Bite in Daycare? Interview with Dr. Norman E. Hoffman
A good way to deal with a biter is by teaching them not to bite. Keep close supervision, monitor what triggers the bite (fighting over toys, crankiness etc.), and if necessary, temporarily separating the child from the others with a gate of some sort when you can’t supervise completely. If that doesn’t work, and the biting becomes chronic, then you will have to consider letting the child go. I’ve had one biter that I had to let go because it was getting very bad, and the ‘victim’s’ mother was threatening to leave if I didn’t do something. Give it about a month and if you don’t see significant improvement, consider letting them go.
My policy covers all undesirable behaviors. It clearly states that my job is to protect the children in my care from harm. If your child is repeatedly causing other children harm, and redirection, time outs, and loss of participation in activities is not stopping the behavior, then I will suspend or terminate care of that child. Biting is not “normal” is more of an isolated behavior. I have had over 40 children in my care over the 15 years I have been a daycare provider and I have only had one biter. Encouraging a child to bite another, could cause you to lose your license and possibly be sued. I do not recommend that route.
I just put them in a break and tell them it’s not good to bite living things, teeth are for food, not friends. We are not allowed any form of physical punishment, nor are we allowed to tell the victim’s parents the name of the child who did the biting due to confidentiality (but the kids usually tell anyway) .
I’ve had 2 repeat biters. We console the victim & encourage them to tell the biter how they felt when they got bitten. If they’re too young to explain their feelings I just have them tell the biter, “no”. Then we tell the biter, “look at ___, see how sad ___ is? You hurt ___ when you bit him/her. I know you felt angry that __ had a toy you wanted (or insert reason for biting) but it is not okay to bite. Biting hurts people” If needed I also put them in time out but my ultimate goal is to teach, not punish. This has worked better than any other solution we’ve tried. It’s not an overnight fix but 1 biter has stopped completely & the other is biting with less frequency & not as hard as before.
I don’t have a policy on biting per se, but have found that the best way to handle this behavior is to give it as little attention as possible. Reacting strongly only seems to make it worse (biters enjoy that negative attention.) responding calmly and quietly with a “we dint bite our friends” and placing them in a separate secluded area like a pack and play or gated off area for 10 minutes or so each time it happens can help a lot.
You let that parent know of the incident and YOU discipline that child by giving him a time out with you after the victim bites him back! Works for me and the pediatrician gave me these instructions. Usually the victim doesn’t really bite back but the attempt of it makes the little perpetrator realize ( wow that hurts) it works!
We work closely with the child before giving up. Unfortunately we have had a few biters. What has worked for us is giving the child a chewy, a wet wash cloth, frozen teethers and always explain that biting hurts. We show them the area he has bitten. Yo Gabba Gabba “Don’t bite your friends” works for us too. We never single the biter out however, the kiddos know who the video is for we just work it out as a team & have all of them watch it. I am proud to say we have none at this time. Our last biter came about 3 months ago age 2 1/2 yr old, he bit 2 times and has not done it again over 2 months. Sometimes they do it for attention, sensory issues or maybe just teething. We always document and let both parent’s know.
I know someone who had a child with serious biting issues. She got a weighted vest and sewed 2 biting toys using ribbon. The child had sensory problems and this helped tremendously in stopping the biting.
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