I care for 3 children + 1 of my own during the day (my other son is in school). I have 2 daycare girls and 1 daycare boy. The daycare boy is full-time, and the 2 girls are on a flex schedule.

A couple of weeks ago, I had the 12 month old dc girl here. She and my 1 year old son always followed eachother around. It was so cute. On this day, she leaned into him...as if to give him a hug, and bit him right on the face. I wasn't expecting it so I could not prevent it. She broke skin! Shortly after that, her parents were on holidays for two weeks. When she came back, I noticed that she has been 'attacking' my son. She walks up to him and pulls his hair, scratches him. She does this all out of excitement, so I know it is not done maliciously. (Can it even be done maliciously at 12 months old?). For each incident, she was told 'NO' very firmly and redirected to another area of play.

I noticed that this week, my 1 year old cries when he sees her. When she starts to walk up to him, he lays on the ground and plays dead....like he's paralyzed with fear. I'm always having to pick up my little pumpkin off the floor to rescue him from her. Just the sight of her upsets him now.

Yesterday, I had all my dc kids. It was a bit of a challenging day for a while. The 1 year old girl only came at 2pm when nap time was almost over. I allowed the 3 year old dc girl to get out of her nap area to play with the 1 year old. She loves the 1 year old dc girl. She treats her kind of like she would if she had a little sister. It's very cute! My 1 year old son was also awake at this time. The 1 year old dc girl immediately started heading toward my son. He was paralyzed with fear, so I picked him up and brought him to the toy room while the girls stayed in the living room to play (1 room is off the other). While I was in there, the 1 year old bit the 3 year old on the face and left a bruise of teeth marks. So the 3 year old that was FINALLY having a good day immediately got upset. It was all downhill from there. When I picked up the 1 year old dc girl, she was trying to bite my arm. I had to hold her out far enough from me. I showed her my 'angry' face and said a firm 'no'. This usually stops her from the action she is about to make, but does not send the message long term. For the rest of the day, while I waited for all 3 parents to arrive, the children were miserable because this 1 year old was constantly trying to attack them. What am I supposed to do with her? Is it inhumane to put her in a playpen with toys and let her bite the toys instead? I don't know what else to do. I am not concerned that she will do this long term. I know that she is teething right now. I would be very concerned if she was 18 months and biting out of anger. She is always very happy when she is trying to bite.

I spoke to mom about it at pick up. She mentioned that her daughter does it at home to her older brother too. She said they do the same as me: a firm 'no' and redirect her. Will this method ever start working? I don't want the other children to feel unsafe or miserable because of a 12 month old baby. lol. Otherwise, this 12 month old is very cute and a delight to have around. She won't be much of a delight if her presence makes the others upset though.

How do you work on correcting this?