How to Stop a Child From Biting in Daycare

Toddlers explore their world with their mouths and biting is a natural way of exploring their surroundings. For children under 3 years, the urge to bit comes from their curiosity and it can be connected with feelings of excitement, frustration or stress.

In a daycare set up, biting is a traumatizing experience for both the victim and the biter. Sometimes it involves the parents of both children. If you receive the bad news that your child has either bitten another child or has been bitten by another child, do allows emotions to run high. Instead, work with the daycare provider and the other parent to resolve the problems as quickly as possible and efficiently.

Besides working with the daycare provider, watch your child at home and understand why he is biting. When you understand why a child is biting, you can be able to help him stop. With the right help, your child can stop biting within a few days or weeks. However, do not try to punish the toddler for biting.

When you learn that your child is biting, observe him carefully. Understand under what circumstances and when he bites, who he bits, at what times of the day is he biting more and how he reacts after he has bitten.

Toddlers bit for different reasons. But most of them outgrow that habit by age three. The following are some of the reasons as to why kids bit:

•    Teething – when the teeth are breaking, the child might experience some pain. To relieve the pain, he will try to bit into something. In such a case, give your toddler a chewable toy or a teething ring for him to bite.

•    Curiosity – children like exploring the environment around them. Most of them will taste anything they get hold of with their mouth. If your child is biting out of curiosity, remove him as soon as possible from the victim. Remember to tell him, “no biting”

•    Excitement – some children bit when they are excited. This is mostly caused by hormonal rush. Ensure you teach your child more gentle ways of expressing their joy. You can teach him to stroke or cuddle when excited.

•    Frustration – some situations can be frustrating to children. They respond by biting. To resolve this, ensure you remove him from the object of biting or the situation that is making him become frustrated.

•    Attention seeking – when a toddler who does not know how to speak wants to get your attention, he will bite. Ensure that your baby gets all the attention he needs to avoid this habit.

•    Stress – if a toddler finds himself in a distressing situation, he will bite in an attempt to deal with the stress. Identify what is stressing your child and if possible, remove the stress whatever is causing stress. Or better still, equip your baby to be able to handle stress.

Toddler Biting His Own Hand

Toddlers and biting are like jam and bread. Kids bit their hands for different reasons. You need to observe your child keenly and find out what is making him bit himself. In most cases, the toddler is teething so as the teeth are breaking out, he will feel the urge to bit. And since he cannot find something near to bit, he will bite his hand.

Sometimes it is out of frustration. If your child needs something and he cannot have it, he can bite his hand in frustration. Find the root cause of your child’s biting and help him stop. But don’t worry, he will outgrow the habit.

Toddler Biting When Excited

It can be embarrassing and frustrating to have bit marks. But most toddlers go through the biting phase. It can be frustrating because this habit is not part of your parenting techniques.

The reason as to why a child might bite himself when excited is a hormonal rush. When a person gets excited or angry, the body produces some hormones into the bloodstream. The ability of an individual to synthesize these hormones and remove them from the blood depends on many factors.

If your child bits himself because he cannot handle the happiness hormone, you can help him achieve this. One of the natural ways of balancing the hormone is through diet. Ensure that your child gets good nutrients that can help the liver breakdown the happiness hormone. Some of the nutrients that are helpful include vitamin C, B, proteins and plenty of water.

The child’s inability to handle his sensory sensibilities makes him bite. You can help your child re-direct his excitement to something else. Give your child something he can bite. You either give him an apple or bring his favorite ball which you can give him to play with when excited. Having an activity to do is a great way for him to spend his energy rather than biting his hand.

Child Hurting Himself When Upset

It is natural for someone to get upset. But it can be scary when a little child hurts himself when upset. Sometimes the way as a parent reacts when you see your child hurting himself can make matters worse. It is paramount that you tackle this problem head-on to help prevent further hurts.

When your child gets upset pulls his hair, scratches his hand or hits his head, you need to teach him how to handle his frustrations in a healthy way.

The following are some suggestions on how you can help your child who is hurting himself when upset:

• Interrupt the hurt – when you see your child hurting himself, immediately pick him up gently and hold him in your hands. Hold him gently or hug/cuddle him until he feels safe to stop hurting himself.
• Help him manage his anger – if your child has any anger buildup, help him to release it. Help your child to play around. This will help him release any anger buildup and he will be okay with time.
• Assure him that you love him – let your child know that you love him and you don’t want him to get hurt. It is not advisable to punish your child when he hurts himself. He needs to feel loved and cared for.
• Help him express his anger differently – most children hurt themselves because they do not know how to express their frustrations. Therefore, it is your duty to teach him. Teach him to speak out when frustrated, take deep breathes or find something to do.
• Ensure no one is hurting your child – sometimes your child might hurt himself because of the way someone hurt him. He might be hitting his head because that is how someone hit him. Watch for any indications of hurt from someone.

When Your Child Bites Another Child

Biting is a common occurrence among children. No matter how hard you try to prevent it, sometimes it will happen. If your child bites another for whatever reason, do the following:

(i)    Remain Calm – don’t shout at your child if he bites another child. Act as calm as possible. Remove your child from the one that has been bitten and tell your child not to bite.

(ii)    After that, attend to the child that has been bitten. Cuddle or hug him to calm him down. Ensure that you clean the area where he has been bitten.

(iii)    After attending to the victim, go back to the one who bites the other. Explain to him not to bite because biting hurts. Teach and encourage the one who bites to apologize to the one he bites.

(iv)    If the biting was out of a rivalry, find out the problem and help them to resolve the problem.

How to Stop a Child from Biting

One of the areas that many children have a weakness is their mouth. The mouth of a child is very sensitive and they mostly use their mouth to learn about their surroundings. Sometimes they use biting as a way of communication or getting attention or expressing their emotions.

Because your child has not learned how to speak, he uses biting to pass the information. All you need to do is teach your child that biting will not help him get he wants. You should teach him better ways of communicating rather than using his mouth.

Most children will stop the habiting of biting once he learns how to better communicate or express himself. Most children will outgrow biting by their third birthday. The following are some ways you can help your child stop biting:

1.    Found out the Cause

Children bite for different reasons. By knowing the underlying reason for the biting, it will help you deal with the problem. The following are some of the reasons why children bite and how you can help resolve it.

•    Teething – when the teeth are breaking, the child might experience some pain. To relieve the pain, he will try to bit into something. In such a case, give your toddler a chewable toy or a teething ring for him to bite.

•    Curiosity – children like exploring the environment around them. Most of them will taste anything they get hold of with their mouth. If your child is biting out of curiosity, remove him as soon as possible from the victim. Remember to tell him, “no biting”

•    Excitement – some children bit when they are excited. This is mostly caused by hormonal rush. Ensure you teach your child more gentle ways of expressing their joy. You can teach him to stroke or cuddle when excited.

•    Frustration – some situations can be frustrating to children. They respond by biting. To resolve this, ensure you remove him from the object of biting or the situation that is making him become frustrated.

•    Attention seeking – when a toddler who does not know how to speak wants to get your attention, he will bite. Ensure that your baby gets all the attention he needs to avoid this habit.

•    Stress – if a toddler finds himself in a distressing situation, he will bite in an attempt to deal with the stress. Identify what is stressing your child and if possible, remove the stress whatever is causing stress. Or better still, equip your baby to be able to handle stress.

2.    Prevent the Problem

Once you have understood what is making your child bite, try to avoid the causative factor. This is not as easy as it sounds. This is because some underlying factors are normal life occurrences. For instance, when a child is teething, he is likely to bite into almost anything he lays his hands on.

However, knowing the reason for the biting, it might help you manage the situations as much it lies within your powers.

3.    Say “No Biting”

If you notice your child biting someone or something, with a very calm voice tell him, “no biting.” To successfully tell your child this, ensure that you have eye contact with him. Also, use facial expressions which shows that biting is not allowed. Teach him that biting is not the only way he can get your attention. By using this simple phrase over and over again, your child is likely to understand that biting hurts.

Don’t yell at your child when teaching him. Also, ensure that your child understands that you know the reason for his biting behavior. When your child knows that his message is home, he is likely not to hurt again.

4.    Remove Your Child From the Incident

Remove your child from the biting situation as soon as possible. As you remove him, tell him that you are separating him from the other children because you don’t want him to hurt others. Ensure that the child sees you focusing on the child that he has hurt. He will learn that when he bites, he is not the one given the attention but the one who has been bitten.

Once the child who bites has calmed down, it might be helpful to let him help you attend to the one that has been bitten. For instance, when you are cleaning or bandaging the one that has been hurt, let the biter be there. This will help him to realize the effect of his biting.

5.    Teach Empathy

One of the most successful methods of teaching a child to stop biting is teaching him empathy. Teach your child to put himself in the shoes of the one that he bites. Ask him to imagine how the other child felt when he bit him.

However, make sure that you do not resort to desperate measures when teaching him. If you become harsh to your child, studies indicate that he is likely to worsen in his behavior. But being gentle is the most effective way of teaching. Do not ask the child who has been bitten to bite back. If you use this method, your child will not understand that hurting others is bad because he also will be hurt. Thus you will contradict the message that it is unacceptable to express frustration with hunger. Let your child understand that biting is hurtful and is not the best way to get what he wants.

6.    Teach Short Phrases

Teach your child short phrases which discourage biting. For instance, teach your child a phrase like, “biting is only for food.” By repeating this phrase every time he feels like biting another child, it will help him to overcome his biting behavior.

Conclusion

Even when you are doing your best to help your child stop biting, the behavior might continue. Don’t become discouraged. Be patient with your child. However, if the biting continues past the age of 3 years, it might be a sign of some serious emotional problems. Find help from a child therapist to find the underlying cause of biting.

In an event of biting and the child gets hurt, ensure that you clean the wound as soon as possible. Wash the wound first with soap and water. If the hurt is serious, seek medical attention to prevent possible infections.

Most importantly, ensure that you pay close attention to the triggers for biting. Watch for the problem and intervene as soon as possible. It might be necessary to act as a shadow for your child to look after your child to stop him biting. If the trigger is sharing a toy during playing, provide more toys or extra more exciting toys to help prevent frustrations which cause the biting.