BITING

Biting is one of the things that children do. It is very popular in child care. There are many reasons why children bite so it is impossible to give you astraight answer to each case but here are a few possibilities that I have come up with whilst working with children for many years.

Teething
If your child is young they maybe teething which is hard time and they like to bite on things to ease the pain, this usually occurs when they are being breast fed. It can also happen if they are around children. The best thing to do if this happen to you or you hear that is happening to other children is to give them something that they can bite on like a teething ring or give them rusks that they can chew on these all help to ease the pain of teething. It is a stage of development which happens in a reasonable period of time and easily forgotten as we grow older. You can also buy teething gels to help ease the pain. Check it out with your Doctor or local pharmacy.
Frustration
This occurs mainly when your child is a toddler (between 1-2 ½). It is usually because they do not have the words to communicate what they want. For example a child may want they same toy  that another child  is playing with and instead of saying giving me that they may well bite the child instead this of course gives the child a shock an ultimately the biter gets what they want. The best way to handle this situaton is to remove the child from the situation and let them no frimly that it is not OK to bite.  Give them another toy to play with and if there is a temper tantrum let them have it.  It is important to show that you care comfort the other child and shoe the bitier that they have hurt the other child.
Anxiety
This is a common one if a child is anxious about something or has lost someone close to them they may be doing it because they are upset and trying to come to terms with it. In some cases they may bite themselves rather than others.

One of the important things to remmeber is never bite the child back this is teaching them the very thing we do not want them to do.  The best approarch is to move them away from the situation and express them to firmly that biting hurts and you do not like to see them biting  and hurting other children.  Comfort the child who has been bitten and montoir the sitiation very closeley.

Helen Thompson

childlearningsupport.com

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