Anti-Biting Strategies

So DS (26mths) has been biting again :( and CC rang to talk about it yet again. DS only bites at home when he's tired and very occasionally at other times.

I can't seem to find much in the way of strategies for discouraging biting online when I searched last time. So I figured I'd ask your collective wisdom.

I understand that sometimes biting is a stage kids go through but DS is drawing blood at CC when he bites.

So hit me with your anti-biting strategies.


(might ask the mods to make this a sticky for others if there's enough replies)

CC did try spraying a water spray bottle in DS's face after some incidents but it was early summer so warm enough to be nice on his face

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CC did try spraying a water spray bottle in DS's face after some incidents but it was early summer so warm enough to be nice on his face

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Oh my goodness a spray bottle!! I don't have blood drawing bitters but I would not condone that. Did they at least ok it with you before they went ahead and did it? Maybe going with out play time or something he enjoys may work?

it was a light spray - like the ones you you might use when ironing - misting spray - they suggested it might work but didn't end up working due to the general tem,p of the season.

they've tried time out and withdrawing from the activity - sometimes though he goes straight back to the child he last bit and has another go :rolleyes:

Do they not have any strategies they could suggest?? I find that a bit odd.

When DD was biting, I tried time out, I tried "Gentle!" and eventually what worked for us was setting some rules - the one for us about her being too rough was "keep your hands to yourself", as she was mostly pushing people. When she bit or kicked I adjusted it to include "keep your hands, feet and mouth to yourself"!

I would say "DD, that's not how we play nicely with other kids, what's our rule? We keep our hands to ourselves" and I would demonstrate by clapping my hands together in front of my chest. She started copying me and soon got it.

Might help? He's of an age now where he should understand a bit better if you try and explain it to him?

I could have posted this thread!!

DS2 got bitten about a month ago at CC and has since been biting DS1, he actually on weekend for the 2nd time left teeth marks and drew blood.

He does not do this at CC it just seems to be his brother and is generally in frustration!

We have tryed putting him in his cot, removing him from situation and not letting him have what ever he is after from his brother,

I do not agree with spray bottle as that reminds me of us spraying dog to try and get it to stop barking.

Oh you poor thing! You must be at your wits end! I did a google and found a few approaches.

" One approach that we used was to explain to the child that our teeth are for chewing food...not biting people. As long as everyone was consistant it really work a lot. We had a child that would bite when she got frustrated, tired, hungry, and even excited. For this child the method above did not work so we had an object that she could bite. We gave her a teether or another soft object and told her that if she felt she needed to bite something she could bite that. We showed her where we kept it and she would go get it if she needed it. It worked very well and eventually she stopped biting even that."

Maybe a sit-down with your childcare may help if you or they feel it isn't getting better. Hugs to you I would imagine it too be very stressful to get negative feedback about your little one.

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CC did try spraying a water spray bottle in DS's face after some incidents but it was early summer so warm enough to be nice on his face

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Woah, never heard of that and to be honest, would never feel comfortable doing that to someone's child - can't really understand their reasoning behind it, the child is not a dog or cat. Also, time out is no longer considered an acceptable behavioural management tool in child care and centres are not supposed to be using it any more.
In my experience (must to the frustrations of everyone involved) there is really little that can disuade a biter and usually it is just a time thing, that they do grow out of. Doesn't make it any less frustrating for everyone involved though.

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Woah, never heard of that and to be honest, would never feel comfortable doing that to someone's child - can't really understand their reasoning behind it, the child is not a dog or cat.

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Glad SOMEONE said it!!!!






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Leah and Dan
Lucy 5
Minnie 2
Pippi due 29 sept

YOU are what YOU eat!

Yeah I am totally against the idea of childcare dealing with it in that way, totally off.

I am surprised they cannot make suggestions as well, they should have a behaviour management policy in place and should be able to observe when and 'why' it is happening and create an individual management plan to assist your child in not continuing with these behaviours.

Unless it is occurring at home the behaviour can not *really* be managed by you... I am at a loss really because although we would discuss it with you, and develop strategies in consultation with you - it is us that would be doing a lot of the behaviour management because it is happening at the centre.

Suggestions for managing detrimental behaviours such as biting, scratching etc are generally by creating tactile experiences (such as play dough, finger paint, sand play, water play) for the child to engage in so that they are 'busy'. And the child carers should be encouraging positive interactions and guiding children away from negative interations etc.

This is a good article that we have for parents to look at, written by Anne Stonehouse - http://www.ncac.gov.au/factsheets/biting.pdf

They have discussed it several times with me but because I work full time it's hard for me as DS really only bites when I see him if he's tired. DS is with DH 2 days a week and CC 3 days and DH has ignored it mostly :rolleyes: and not listened when I've tried to discuss it - especially when I say it's a problem at CC.

The water was used when he was in the baby room when he didn't understand that it was naughty to bite people. DS understands now that biting is naughty - he can tell us that he bit at CC but it hasn't stopped it.

He has had a couple of good weeks but he's backsliding again and he has started to draw blood when biting. Usually the first bite of the day will happen after being provoked somehow - eg another kid took the toy he was playing with or he was pushed. Apparently he doesn't yell or anything when this happens, just takes a deep breath and goes in for the bite.

I will check out that link when get back on the computer later


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk so sorry if I'm confusing you ;)

With the time out they had to put him in a high chair in the baby room as he wouldn't stop biting others at one point

we, DH and I, are going in later this week to see what we can do with the CC. It's hard because they are trying to keep us in the loop (I'm a teacher so I understand that it's hard sometimes) and if DS was the bitee I would want to know that something was being done but it's not so easy being the parent of the biter.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk so sorry if I'm confusing you ;)

We tried getting DS to chew a teether (won't take a dummy) but will rarely accept this. He's very hesitant to get in and play with things with his fingers (paint etc) loves the sandpit but that's outside at CC


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk so sorry if I'm confusing you ;)

DS was a biter (blood drawing) What worked for us was totally ignoring him when he did it - not reacting in the slightest, even if it hurt like all hell and he bit through an artery.

The spray bottle thing is something my mum does to their cat when it gets on the bench!