Help! Toddler biting

[absolutehush]

My toddler (2 this week) is biting - to the extent that nursery want to have a conversation.

She is a very affectionate, sweet thing, but very very high energy and excitable. She has a short attention span and can be very boisterous. At home, we have had the odd attempts but have always deflected or just firmly said no before moving on.

Comms from nursery haven't been great so this has come a little bit out of the blue. I am mortified.

We had a hitting phase that had improved. She is very smart (in my eyes)! She can hold a conversation with a few sentences and is already able to spell, but can't articulate her feelings maybe? She is also very mouthy - literally everything goes in her mouth.

Nursery don't have a biting policy. So:

• has anyone got any behaviour management tips?
• anything I should be on the lookout for?
• questions for nursery?
• does this get better?

I love her so much and hate that she is clearly unhappy and frustrated, and that she's going to be a child that other children don't like if we don't get a handle on this.

Anyone? I'm so upset that my lovely gorgeous girl is unhappy and that she will be seen in such a negative way.

I’m not sure I have much useful advice sorry but can sympathise as my almost 2 year old has also started biting. She mainly seems to try it with me though and not at nursery, so far.

The advice that I’ve had (from a friend who studied child psychology) is to do pretty much what you’re doing - don’t react in a big way, just firmly say no and move away from her. So it sounds like you’re doing the right things.

I think in your case I’d be putting the questions back to the nursery as it seems to be mainly happening whilst she’s there, and they need to be part of the solution. So I’d be asking in what sort of situations does it happen, what do they do when it happens, how are they managing it, and come up with a plan together for tackling it so at least you’re all handling it consistently.

I'm still really upset about it. We will have a call with nursery this week but have also ordered some children's book (mouths are not for biting) so we can reinforce in a gentle way outside of the moment.

I'm so upset as most of her room are taking and I don't want her to be the biter!

@Spillanelle thank you for the reassurance! She's my only child and I am very very anxious about her. I also don't know any other toddlers, really, so feel like she's the only biter.

DS is a biter but he’s a lot younger and bites me and his bf at nursery. With me he def intends to bite but the nursery think he wants to kiss his friend’s cheek but then can’t resist taking a bite because he’s teething. They give him a time out every single time he does it, and asked me to do the same.

Like others have said I would expect them to tell you when and where and how she bites and offer up some solutions too.