Toddler biting only at nursery

[TheresLotsOfFarmyardAnimals]

DS is 20 months old and has been trying to bite other children at nursery for a month or so. He has previously been through a phase of this but seemed to stop.

I'm not entirely sure what to do about it as he doesn't do it at home. It seems to be when another child has something he wants, if they don't give it up straight away he goes for them.

Nursery have said that they just move him away from the situation and say that it isn't nice, it's not how we treat our friends.

Is there anything that I can do in this situation or do I just have to ride it out?

My DD went through this phase, she also bit me a couple of times too, even drew blood once . At nursery she did bite a few children, in fact it seemed to be a regular occurrence for a while. Our nursery would remove her from the situation and make a big fuss of the child she'd bitten whilst ignoring her. If she did it at home she would go straight on the naughty step. I'd say it lasted a few months and she grew out of it. She was a similar age to your DS, it stopped for good when she was around 2. It's just a phase, don't worry too much and just try to be consistent in your approach if he starts doing it at home. Interestingly she never bit her dad, only me!

Thanks for your reply. It's reassuring.

Just ride it out. DD1 was never a biter at home (except one awful bite she gave her cousin), just at nursery. They handled it they way your nursery did and she grew out if it.

You just have to remember this patience when your daughter gets bitten by a toddler in a biting stage. Dh was outraged until I pointed out Dd1 was exactly the same at that age.

All children bite at some stage, but if she is only biting at nursery - I would also wonder if the nursery could do better? My child was bitten many times and bit at a "satisfactory" nursery and never bit when I moved her to an "outstanding" nursery. Her sibling who only experienced the outstanding nursery never got bit and never bit at nursery...read full account on my blog (n.b. - the bit about biting is in the footnote right at the bottom about how the quality of childcare really matters - scroll down!)

shrinkgrowskids.com/2014/01/24/i-hate-affordable-childcare/

shrink that is interesting. He doesn't actually manage to bite the other children, they intervene before it gets to that point. It is an 'oustanding' nursery. I am skeptical of these ofsted rating as a guide though, I think it's not very accurate.