Biting! How to stop the habit without resorting to a punishment!

Peter joined our daycare when he was seventeen months old. His parents had relocated and were transferring him from his current daycare.

We were unaware that he had a history of biting and were shocked when he bit a twenty month old child at our facility.

Even though I have been a care giver for twenty four years I have only had two other children who were biters. Ironically it was the only behavior I have been unsuccessful in correcting.
Both of these previous children were diagnosed with serious behavior issues and transferred to a special needs daycare.

In Peter’s case, his situation did not appear to be as serious as theirs were. So when the parents agreed to get professional help, as a family, I agreed to support that choice and work with them.
The parents have made major changes in their parenting style and we have seen a measurable, positive change in Peter’s behavior.

However it seems that peter concluded along the way that biting sometimes worked in his favor. Prior to our intervention, he was getting what he wanted in many cases, so we were still not really getting the resulted we needed.

It seemed his biting was becoming his weapon of choice when he desired a toy someone else had. Truthfully this was not happening that often, but once was too much.

I feel there must be some approach we can take to put an end to this.

The only suggestion that we heard was to “bite him back”. I was already aware of this approach and for me it was not an option. I am totally against physical violence of any kind.

I would love to hear from any of you who have been successful in stopping this habit in a more compassionate way. I am particularly curious of whether anyone from a different culture may have had a successful experience they could share. I would really love to hear from you!

Peter seems to take this aggressive action mostly when he is tired. However, he is very impulsive. We have made a huge commitment to resolve this issue and can only be satisfied with 100% success. We must be confident he will not have an option to hurt any other child.

I am excited to hear from you, thanks for your help!