Biting and Hair Pulling

Hi Everyone.....just wanted to know how you deal with hair pulling and biting....my 16mo dck has started biting and pulling MY hair in addition to the other children. It happens when I'm correcting bad behavior or carrying dck to time out. Also, anyone have any idea what causes this sort of behavior in children that young? Haven't spoken to parents yes cause I have no idea how to address this issue...I am mortified that it's happening and I'm certain they will be too....what would you do? :unsure:

I would not carry a child to time out take the child by the hand and walk him there by lifting him up you are giving him access to you. Don't give this child the opportunity. I used to have this dcp who's child never wanted to leave and so she used to pick him up and immediately he would smack her in the face and one day she said to me I don't know how to stop him from doing that .... I said " it's easy ... Stop picking him up ... He's old enough to walk" Even if they drop to the ground while you are walking them stand them back up and keep doing it and they will soon realize what they are doing isn't working. I rarely pick up my daycare kids. I only lift in and out of high chairs and play pens.

I have a new baby who just started and I noticed at the interview that he was pulling his Mom's hair and poking his finger in her mouth and I had to explain that in a daycare that is unacceptable. If he pokes his finger in another child's mouth he will get bitten and it will be the other child's fault and if he pulls hair the other children won't like him.

Explain these things to the parent, that we have to teach all the children respect and empathy and kindness toward one another and we don't want any injuries or sadness, just happiness. In my case, the child is 14 months old and the parents never thought about the behaviour before as being unacceptable, they didn't have any reason to put a stop to it before in their eyes.

I wouldn't be mortified, it's a natural thing and children all push their boundaries to see what they can away with until we teach them what is allowable. I'm sure the parents will be fine if you explain it the way I explained it to my dcparents.

Unfortunately its developmentally appropriate behaviour. Some children do it because they are teething and the pressure is really bothersome. Have you tried offering the child something else to chew/bite on? Also, children this young don't have the communication skills to address their discomforts and is an effective way for them to get their point across. I'm not exactly sure that a "time-out" for a 16 month old baby will be very affective in this case.

Here is a link to more reading material.

http://www.handinhandparenting.org/n...-Toddler-Bites

There is a ton of resources out there on this topic and it might also be important to let other parents know (if they are concerned about this child biting their children) that is it a normal development stage some children go through. Maybe even write up a hand out with key facts so parents understand that it will pass and that you are doing everything in your power to keep the children safe and what is developmentally appropriate while this plays out.

It is definitely frustrating, I've been there myself several times... just know that it is a phase and it will pass!

Best of luck!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ESD

Unfortunately its developmentally appropriate behaviour. Some children do it because they are teething and the pressure is really bothersome. Have you tried offering the child something else to chew/bite on? Also, children this young don't have the communication skills to address their discomforts and is an effective way for them to get their point across. I'm not exactly sure that a "time-out" for a 16 month old baby will be very affective in this case.

Here is a link to more reading material.

http://www.handinhandparenting.org/n...-Toddler-Bites

There is a ton of resources out there on this topic and it might also be important to let other parents know (if they are concerned about this child biting their children) that is it a normal development stage some children go through. Maybe even write up a hand out with key facts so parents understand that it will pass and that you are doing everything in your power to keep the children safe and what is developmentally appropriate while this plays out.

It is definitely frustrating, I've been there myself several times... just know that it is a phase and it will pass!

Best of luck!

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I do not agree too much with the link, as momof4 mentioned when parents play rough with a baby or let him pull hair he is absorbing everything. I have had bitters and I have suspected that it has something to do with it, but was not 100% sure. It was until I start reading from this group that I found that several people here with the same problem have found this cause in common. My own son was a bitter. Time out did not work at all. We have to talk about his feelings and feelings of the kids in pain. That all emotions are acceptable, but biting is not acceptable and guide him to acceptable behaviors. He was 18mos at that time. Even at the beginning I was getting blank stares and seemed as he did not understand, he actually did. And of course daddy stop playing rough and playfully pretend he was eating the baby.

I had a biter and ended up giving the parents a warning. After that I would constantly have this baby (18 months) in my view. I would put him in time out and now he hasn't bitten in weeks. The parents were very supportive and were working with him at home as well. They stopped doing anything with him that would be seen by him as aggressive such as play fighting. I also started to realize that the girl that he was biting tended to tattle on him and take things away from him so I imagine that he was getting frustrated because he couldn't explain his side of the story.