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Original poster

Another child bit my child

145 replies

bordellosboheme · 22/04/2013 11:48

Hard on the finger. It has swollen up and is purple. My ds is 17 months and the offender is 6 months older and is a serial offender... Ds is such a gentle soul. I feel pissed off.... Talk to me please and help me feel better......

OP posts:
Choccywoccydodah · 22/04/2013 17:16

Fwiw regarding not hearing of a bite wound bleeding. When me and my cousin were about 7, he bit me so hard it made my eyes water. I bit him back, harder.......it bled.....a lot!

Kewcumber · 22/04/2013 17:28

Respect Choccywoccy.

Freddiemisagreatshag · 22/04/2013 17:48

17months to nearly 2 is a big gap at that age.

Some kids bite. DS2 did. He doesn't now he's 21 Grin but I used to have to watch him like a hawk.

Can't believe you wasted a doctor's time - haven't you heard of a wash and a plaster?

Seriously, you need to loosen up. When your DS is 2 it'll be him doing something horrible to someone else's child. Unless, of course, he's one of those children that never does wrong.

mrslaughan · 22/04/2013 17:57

She is 23 months old - no it is not acceptable but it does happen. It doesn't make her a psychopath - just a child.....

pansyflimflam · 22/04/2013 18:04

This is your first child isn't it?

I pray you have a biter the next time. And seriously I cannot believe you took a child to a doctor to have a finger cleaned up and bandaged. WTF would you do in a serious situation??? Can you not clean a wound and put a plaster on?

It is not nice but you are genuinely making too much of this. Please get a grip

Smudging · 22/04/2013 18:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

mrslaughan · 22/04/2013 18:14

Is she loner because she wants to be alone - of because she is being attrocised by mothers who have labelled her?
Most children at this age could be described in some ways as loners or anti- social .
If she has some form of developmental or learning differences (which I highly doubt) it not catchy you know....

MadameSin · 22/04/2013 18:32

Bordello you've probably realised that a majority of MNetters don't like parents flaming other people's children. We offer support, but won't entertain the witch hunt of a toddler. What did you expect other parents to suggest .. sue the mother, get the toddler put into care??? MY ds1 was a biter, it was horrible. It lasted about a year and I was one step behind him in any social circumstance. I don't know why he did it, as he wasn't old enough to articulate to me. His nursery were great, understood it was a normal part of development. Some children hit, some pinch, some kick and some bite. My ds1 wasn't anti-social (although the biting was) and I'm a good mum. You'll be delighted to know he's now a lovely, bright and very sociable 17 year old. Your child will forget about this incident in a few days. If this is the worse that's going to happen to your child, you've got off lightly ... just wait till they start school!!

Original poster
bordellosboheme · 22/04/2013 19:19

It was the nurse I saw, not the doctor. I was out and about not near home with no plasters or clean water with me. It seemed the logical thing to do..... No... The nurse was fine, winced and said 'oh that looks really nasty'. Do you want a tetanus jab..... I certainly wasn't waisting their time. It's what they're for, isn't it.

Its certainly not a witch hunt, I wouldn't have been over there if I was demonising the child. I know at least three others she's bit....

OP posts:
Littlefish · 22/04/2013 19:23

Biting is a phase. Children grow out of it.

Grin
AlanMoore · 22/04/2013 20:04

Wow your surgery is obliging!

DeWe · 22/04/2013 20:27

"Do you want a tetanus jab?" That has to have been said in jest. Absolutely no way a nurse would offer that seriously after a toddler bite.

I've got 3 dc. 2 were bitten and never bit anyone. One was a biter, and I can tell you I always felt much worse if my child had bitten another than when my dc were bitten. Luckily I had sensible friends who knew that all children can go through such a phase.

And as for "the child is a bit of a loner"... they are at that age...

Original poster
bordellosboheme · 22/04/2013 20:31

Now your misquoting me deme..... I said other mums ave described her as a loner. I said that was harsh....

It was the nurse that told me that human bites are worse than animal ones as the human mouth contains so much bacteria. As it broke the skin and we were outside in a muddy garden playing at the time, she offered the jab. This was not in jest. Why would you think that. Odd that some would downplay all this.

OP posts:
Kewcumber · 22/04/2013 20:43

helloooooo littlefish. You won't be surprised to hear (I hope) that he doesn't bite anymore

Littlefish · 22/04/2013 20:50

Kew - that proves my earlier point exactly. Biting is a phase and children grow it of it.

OP - I hope Kew won't mind me saying that her ds once bit my dd. She handled it brilliantly and removed him straight away and spoke to him. I hope that I handled it ok as well, consoling my daughter but in no way vilifying her ds.

pansyflimflam · 22/04/2013 21:39

A Tetanus jab for a bite from a child? I think the nurse might have been 'humouring' you or taking the piss

You are massively over reacting to this entire event, really you are

5madthings · 22/04/2013 21:53

Isn't the tetanus jab one that they get as babies anyway, the five in one at two/three and four mths? If your child has had that she wouldn't need it.

Seriously toddlers bite, she isnt horrible and mean it antisocial and a loner, the child isn't even two yet! At this age they play alongside each other and are learning social norms etc, it takes time. A firm no sand removal from the situation and then keep a close eye to try and distract before anything happens. Sometimes its a short phase, others it can go on for months but they learn eventually.

5madthings · 22/04/2013 21:55

www.nhs.uk/Conditions/vaccinations/Pages/vaccination-schedule-age-checklist.aspx

If your child is up to date with her vaccinations she has had the tetanus jab so maybe the nurse was just checking she has been vaccinated, they wouldn't routinely offer a tetanus jab for a toddler as they should be immune.

Original poster
bordellosboheme · 22/04/2013 22:00

www.patient.co.uk/health/Bites-(Human).htm

FYI.....

The nurse said they can give a booster

OP posts:
5madthings · 22/04/2013 22:04

She wouldn't need a booster jab, she will get one at age 3-4yrs before starting school and then again at age 14.

MiaSparrow · 22/04/2013 22:05

We're all so horrified when we're confronted with our own normal, mammal behaviour aren't we? (Except where breastfeeding's concerned, because that's a GOOD THING.)

But we don't we don't want to associate human children with biting, not in polite society. And yet they all do it to some extent. 23 months is still so very young...

cory · 22/04/2013 22:05

So bordello what are you going to do if your own child hits a biting phase in 6 months time?

Not at all unusual that children that are sweet and gentle at 17 months turn into real little terrors at 2.

Will you deduce that he has issues and sit speculating on what makes some children so anti-social?

Many of us have felt smug about our sweet innocent little children- only to have a nasty come-down when they entered the next phase.

As for the human mouth being full of bacteria, the nurse will have read that concerning bites from adults. Baby teeth don't store bacteria in anything like the same way. Most of our children have either bitten or been bitten at one time or another. Nothing has happened. If an adult bit me otoh (Suarez...) I'd be straight on my way to the walk-in clinic.

hazeyjane · 22/04/2013 22:08

Did the nurse ask if he was up to date with his jabs? There would be no point offering a booster if he was.

Original poster
bordellosboheme · 22/04/2013 22:49

Miasparrow.... I'm not sure whether it's normal mammal behaviour, or the way we bring up kids in the west, have you read the continuum concept.....? She reckons kids don't have tantrums or fall out in more 'natural societies' like the tribe she studied. It's us being so kid centric in developed countries that does it apparently.

OP posts:
MiaSparrow · 22/04/2013 23:02

Ooh I haven't. I'll have a look!