Biting Birth to 15 Months
There will come a time when your child’s preschool teacher tells you that your child has been bitten at school. This may leave you feeling helpless. You simply couldn’t be there to protect your child from this situation. You also wonder how the teacher let this happen to your child.
The fact is that no one could have stopped it from happening. Biting is a natural thing that occurs in all children and is especially normal from birth to 15 months. Biting occurs among children in groups at preschool, according to noted psychologists Louise Ilg and Florence Ames, because they lack language and social skills.
They say biting is a developmental phenomenon that happens at predictable times for predictable reasons tied to children’s ages and stages.
Biting During Birth to 15 Months
For children between early infancy and about 14 or 15 months, biting is often part of the investigation and exploration that defines babies’ play. They are curious about things that get put into their mouths, want to see what things taste and feel like, and are interested in exploring everything with their mouths.
Children are also teething during this period. When gums are sore and ache, chewing on something relieves the pressure and feels good!
Very rarely at this stage is biting purposeful or intentional.
Regardless of why the child is biting, preschool teachers have a variety of strategies for preventing it.
Most of their efforts go into close supervision, careful room arrangements that spread children out in the classroom, and, most importantly, getting to know your baby’s needs and temperament very well. Even with all of these efforts, biting may still occur.
What will teachers do when your child is bitten?
The very first thing your child’s preschool teacher will do is respond quickly and comfort your child by holding, cuddling, and helping him/her get over the physical and emotional pain of biting.
After your baby is consoled, their preschool teacher will isolate the biter for a short period of time to withdraw attention from the baby who did the biting. She/he will share the information about the biting incident with you by telling you what happened, when it happened, and how the teacher handled the situation, either by telephone or at the end of the day.
The teacher will not share with you who did the biting. Information about who isn’t helpful because it is the teacher who must handle the situation. As much as you would like to help your baby, you must count on the teacher to prevent biting at school for you, regardless of who is biting.
What you can count on is accurate information about the situation and what is being done about it.
In fact, you should receive an Accident/Incident Report. Ask your child’s teacher to tell you how she handles biting and what she is doing to prevent it in your baby’s classroom. She is your knowledgeable source of information on what we do to keep biting from becoming a negative situation for you or your baby. If you are not completely convinced, talk to your Childcare Center Director. The Director will be able to connect you to parents of older children who are through the investigative/exploratory biting stage and lived to tell about it!
What can you do as a parent to help prevent investigative biting from becoming a problem?
The first thing you can do is always respond quickly when your child is hurt. Quick responses help children build a sense of trust that their world is a safe place to be. Second, always express a negative reaction if your child bites you. Tell your baby that you don’t like it when he/she hurts you.
Remind your baby that you always touch him/her softly. Then put your baby down and walk away for a minute or two to communicate that biting won’t get your attention.
Plan to work closely with your baby’s preschool teacher if biting is occurring at home or in your child’s classroom. Teachers are open to talking and working with you to make sure biting does not become exploitive to anyone. Expect biting to come and go. It is a developmental phenomenon that will be replaced by more mature skills as your baby grows and learns.
Key Points Regarding Biting Birth to 15 Months
Respond quickly when your child is hurt by another child or sibling.
Biting is a developmental phenomenon that comes and goes.
All children bite occasionally at various ages and stages.
Your baby’s teacher will comfort hurt babies quickly, hugging, and cuddling them until they are calm.
Expect your teacher to talk to you about biting incidences. Expect to see an Incident/Accident Report.
Be your child’s first teacher about biting – don’t let him/her bite you without getting a negative reaction from you.
Biting disappears and is replaced by more mature skills as your baby grows.
Parents of older children can be a resource to help in understanding biting.
Who did the biting is not as important as the teacher’s plan for handling it.
Talk to your baby’s preschool teacher if you have any concerns about any of your child’s behaviors.
Now that we’ve covered biting from birth to 15 months of age, be sure to read more blogs at Parent Advisor and The Buzz to learn more about the various developmental stage of your baby. You are welcome to join our private Parent Advisor Facebook group. It’s a growing community of parents and preschool teachers where you can learn and share more parenting tips.