17 month old biting and scratching

Linford

My little daughter is nearly 17 months old and in the last couple of weeks she has started biting and scratching her mum. We just deal with it by putting her down on the ground and telling her "that's not nice..." she then comes over and hugs her mum and gives her a kiss.

When I went to pick her up from the creche yesterday the took me aside and told me that a couple of reports had to be made into the "accident/incident book" because my little girl had bitten and/or scratched another kid. This has only happend in the last couple of days

She knows she is doing wrong as she runs away after doing it. The girls in the creche think she is a little bored (she is due to move to the next class in a couple of weeks).

Anyone out there have any ideas on how to stop her from biting and scratching other kids, I am all on for her being ascertive, but don't want her to be a bully.

Crea

What you are doing at home is fine. If she bites put her down, talk sternly and walk away.
You can't do anything about biting in the creche, it's up to them to deal with it at the time. You can't give out to a 17mth old for something they did 5 hours before.
Talk to the creche about the best way that they can punish her at the time. Also, it might be a good idea to move her to the bigger class now cause it's unlikely she'll bite the bigger children. It'll also get her away from the child she is picking on which will be a relief to them and their parents.

trojaneater1

Linford wrote:

My little daughter is nearly 17 months old and in the last couple of weeks she has started biting and scratching her mum. We just deal with it by putting her down on the ground and telling her "that's not nice..." she then comes over and hugs her mum and gives her a kiss.

When I went to pick her up from the creche yesterday the took me aside and told me that a couple of reports had to be made into the "accident/incident book" because my little girl had bitten and/or scratched another kid. This has only happend in the last couple of days

She knows she is doing wrong as she runs away after doing it. The girls in the creche think she is a little bored (she is due to move to the next class in a couple of weeks).

Anyone out there have any ideas on how to stop her from biting and scratching other kids, I am all on for her being ascertive, but don't want her to be a bully.

Classis signs of adhd. I am peaking from experience here.

littlebug

trojaneater1 wrote:

Classis signs of adhd. I am peaking from experience here.

Biting, along with many many other signs and symptoms, can be an early sign of ADHD http://add.about.com/cs/adhdinpreschool/a/earlyindicators.htm

It's also a classic sign of teething.... i.e they all do it at some point to some extent.
OP just keep doing what you are doing and keep her nails very short!

Linford

trojaneater1 wrote:

Classis signs of adhd. I am peaking from experience here.

The problem seems to have calmed down a bit, this has been helped by the use of "the naughty step" at home and the "quiete corner" in the creche. After a minute or so of "time out" we ask her to say sorry, she then goes over to the injured party and gives them a kiss. Also her being able to play outside a good bit this week has helped.

I would have to disagree with you that this is a "classic sign of ADHD", it is more of a case of her being a bit bored in a room with 8/9 other kids and her being the eldest/more mature, some of them are not walking properly yet while she is running around. Not being able to play outside this summer because the weather has been so bad. She is moving to the next level next week and she will be the youngest kid in the room.

I know you might have experience with a child with ADHD I think this branding every overactive/bored child with ADHD is not healthy, in particular with a child that is only 17 months old. My daughter seems pretty bright, is very sociable but gets a little frustrated in creche when she is not stimulated enough, but she is still happy to play on her own a good bit of the time and doesn't need constant attention. We have no other problems with her, she eats everything and has slept the night through since she has been 5 weeks old.

Linford

littlebug wrote:

Biting, along with many many other signs and symptoms, can be an early sign of ADHD http://add.about.com/cs/adhdinpreschool/a/earlyindicators.htm

It's also a classic sign of teething.... i.e they all do it at some point to some extent.
OP just keep doing what you are doing and keep her nails very short!

Thanks for that link littlebug. I am not one for online diagnosis or self diagnosis but looking at the infant and toddle symptoms, the biting and being a little rough is the only one she seems to have.

I am assuming at 17 months she is now between infancy and toddler. Of the 11 infancy symptoms mentioned she had none and of the 10 toddler symptons she has part of one.

I think she is just a little free spirited...

Nevyn

ADHD can only be diagnosed by medical professionals ( after a lenghtly process ) and I will not have people dishing out medical diagnostics here.

Every child will push boundaries and try new behaviours and thier parents and those who are loco parentis have to deal with it and correct them.

Just because a child is acting out or has a new behaviour does not mean that they have adhd.

di11on

Just a general comment.

I dislike the use of terms such as "naughty" and "punishment". They imply that there is something inherently bad about a child which isn't true.

A child is born into this world with no idea of the "proper" way to behave. No idea of what is acceptable and what is unacceptable behaviour. It's our job as parents to lovingly show them what is acceptable and what is unacceptible and sometimes this means introducing negative conesequences for the actions that are not acceptable so that they learn what is correct. It's not punishment. This child has done nothing wrong because they didn't know that their actions were unacceptable.

I think the language we use is important to show our children that we are lovingly correcting them for their own benefit rather than punishing them for being bad. Big difference - and understanding it the former way rather than the latter will have a huge positive impact on your child's self perception.

littlebug

Linford wrote:

Thanks for that link littlebug. I am not one for online diagnosis or self diagnosis but looking at the infant and toddle symptoms, the biting and being a little rough is the only one she seems to have.

I am assuming at 17 months she is now between infancy and toddler. Of the 11 infancy symptoms mentioned she had none and of the 10 toddler symptons she has part of one.

I think she is just a little free spirited...

Just so you (and Thaedydal) know I posted that link as a resource so you could have somewhere to look for reassurance following trojaneaters comment, not that I was giving medical advice.
I think that biting instict is normal at that age (with teething) and your little one is probably pushing the boundaries a wee bit with it.

Linford

littlebug wrote:

Just so you (and Thaedydal) know I posted that link as a resource so you could have somewhere to look for reassurance following trojaneaters comment, not that I was giving medical advice.
I think that biting instict is normal at that age (with teething) and your little one is probably pushing the boundaries a wee bit with it.

I gathered that and thanks again. I wasn't too concerned with trojaneaters comments...