Biting at nursery

[garethe]

Our daughter seems to go through spells of biting at nursery. She can go days being an angelic child and others being the opposite and have 4-5 "episodes" of biting. She's just 22 months old. In reading all I can on the subject, I consider this to be normal. Normal in the sense that it's normal for children to bite / scram / punch / whatever at this age until they grow out of it / really understnd that what they are doing is not nice. Incidentlally we very rarely see this behaviour at home or when she plays with her friends in small groups. We've been to see the nursery (called in) to discuss this already and things got a bit better but things have reverted. Busy days are genrally the problem. The nursery wants to see us aagin with a view on geting her assessed if she has any special needs. I am not happy with this at all given she's so young and as far as the nursey are concerned developed way ahead of her peers (speech, comprehension etc). Are they just going through the motions that they have too or what?
Welcome any advice!

We have the same problem with our DS (18 months) who has been doing this at nursery for about 4 months. Same as you in that it will hapeen alot and then nothing. Am so suprised about the SN assessment as we have always been told (by the staff) this is completely normal behaviour, although does need attention not to give too much emphasis on it.

I dont really have any advice re the assessment sorry as like you I just thought this was part of a normal childhood?

My 2 1/2 year old is just going through this. She had a bout of it when she was 14-18 mths. She has bitten a nursery teacher and a little boy, not hard and out of cuddling them both first

We have talked about it and I have threatened she will have to eat a chili if she bites again

I think you're nursery is mad to suggest SN
She is still a baby and it is a normal phase for them. There's a good book called Teeth are not for biting and another Hands are not for hitting on amazon.

Many thanks for the responses. I agree - it's not nice that she bites but perfectly normal :-)

I agree that this is a normal phase of development for some children. I think that getting her assessed for special needs is a bit premature.
As a nursery nurse, I would be looking at triggers. Ask the nursery if they have done any observations on your daughter to spot any triggers or patterns. To do this they will need to do ABC charts over a period of time.
A child who is a known biter needs shadowing by a mamber of staff to stop situations developing into biting incidents.
Sounds like your DD is getting bored maybe, or is not getting enough attention. I am sure there are lots of tactics they could use before they call in the big guns (SENCO, who doesn't just deal with special needs, but also behavioural issues and also gifted and talented children)

Both my DD's have gone through a biting/hitting phase! It's perfectly normal! I would agree with purepurple that the nursery need to look for triggers and shadow her to prevent such episodes. My DD2's nursery did that and nipped it in the bud pretty sharpish. And if she's mostly doing it on busy days then perhaps she's bored and not getting enough attention or being watched properly. My DD2 is also quite advanced and started nipping other children as she was bored, the nursery noticed this and moved her into the next age group, the nipping stopped straightaway. As for the SN thing

I'm so glad I've found this thread!! My 15 month DD bit another child today at nursery and broke the skin!!! I feel awful but know it's just normal... I would be annoyed though if my dd came home with bite marks!...

I think I should ask the nursery to keep a closer eye on her to try and stop these biting incidents.

She does bite everything, all the time!