Guest Posted March 4, 2012 Posted March 4, 2012 Hello Everyone I am new to the forum, and would really appreciate some advice. In our Baby room we have a child of 18 months who will continually bite unless she is shadowed. She is very active and likes to be on the go all the time. She seems particularly prone to bite when other children are involved in their play or they have a toy she wants. She receives lots of praise when she shows affection for other babies, and becomes involved in her own play (ie; dancing and music which she loves). For the safey of the other children(some have been biten more than once and she also broke the skin on two occasions) I have requested that each member of staff watches her for an hour at a time. Some staff are not happy with this either because they feel they do not have the time, or someone else said it was not good for this little girl to be shadowed as it was restricting her play I have asked for staff suggestions, one staff member wanted another staff member brought in to give her a one to one. (We did get funding for this two years ago when we had another child who bit frequently.) I do not think that with cut backs that this is a possible option. We do have a biting policy which we give out to parents. We obviously record in the incident and accident book. I have also ordered a copy of "Teeth are not for Biting" Any Suggestions or Ideas would be much appreciated. Thank You Jemima 123
Susan Posted March 4, 2012 Posted March 4, 2012 I dont have any practical ideas but it does sound quite typical of children of that age when they cant communicate in other ways.
Guest Posted March 5, 2012 Posted March 5, 2012 Hi Jemima, I'm Kerry and your post reminded me of a little boy (2 years) who used to bite everyone within reach. It started with teachers and then the other children and if he could reach them, he would even bite the carpet. All the time with an angelic smile on his face. We spoke to his mother and she would say 'Oh no, I told you not to bite.' Then he started to kick, 'Oh no, I told you not to kick.' The list went on and he became uncontrollable. We tried having teachers with him at all times in between - they got bitten instead. We tried having him sit down and calm down - still biting. We tried stories, 'teeth are not for biting' and reinforcing all this with language and behaviour. I am really sorry to say that nothing worked. The other parents became very unhappy about their children coming home with bad bites and began to talk amongst themselves. One mother cried as her daughter was nearly bitten at home time ( I got in between them very quickly). We had to have a meeting with his parents and just let them know that he was not ready for school at that time. Needless to say, they were very upset although the father said he had been expecting it. I still feel sad about the situation but also relieved. It was very stressful for everyone except the little boy. He seemed oblivious and very happy during the time he was with us. We could never figure out what set him off or why he did it. I think he just liked it and thought it was a game. He always smiled and laughed and did not seem to understand the other child's distress even if they screamed or cried. If you can find a way to stop this little girl. I would love to know. Good luck and I will be thinking about you.
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