Libby McNugget

Tonight for your Dining Pleasure, the Chef is Featuring

 a Lovely Libby Doodle Doo

I’ve called my second born many things in the 6 months I’ve known her – Sweetheart, Mei mei, The Libster, Baby, Doodle -- but I never thought I’d call her an Entrée.

And yet, that’s what she has become for her daycare peers. Since mid-March, Libby Doodle Doo has been bitten EIGHT times at daycare.

These bites are nasty too (the one above targeted her thumb). None have broken the skin (thank God), but all have left teeth-mark bruising that lasts for days and days and some have left raised welts that have lasted for over a week.

I’ve talked to the Daycare director a couple times about this situation. So far, she doesn’t’ seem overly concerned. She’s explained to me that biting is a normal 1-year-old behavior (OK). She tells me that its not just one child doing the biting (doesn’t make me feel better). She says that the one-year-old room has the highest caregiver/child ratio in the center (and yet my daughter has been bitten 8 times in 4.5 months).

For most of those 4.5 months, the Libster wasn’t even in the one year old room all day either. When she turned one in early March, the center wanted to move her to the room immediately. I insisted– given the tremendous change Libby Doodle Doo has had to endure since January – that they needed to make the transition very slowly.

So from March through June, the Doodle spent part of her day in the infant room and part of the day in the one-year-old room. When we returned from vacation the second week of July, I told the center that we could keep her in the one-year-old room all day long.

And since then she’s been bitten three more times.

Also since making the full-time transition to this room Libby Doodle Doo is showing tremendous angst when I drop her off in the morning. She wails and screams when she knows that I’m about to leave. If she can, she runs after me and grabs my pant leg trying to block my exit. I can hear her screams after I leave the room and am in the stairwell – it just breaks my heart. I must admit that when I pick her up at the end of the day, she is all smiles and playfulness.

On Monday, the woman who manages the one year old room told me that she was going to collect information on what Libby Doodle Doo was doing before getting bit. She has special sheets to fill out to collect this information on how Libby may be provoking these attacks.

YIKES!

I guess I’m glad the center is doing something about my concerns, but this plan seemed a little misdirected.

So the big advantage of being unemployed is that I was able to spend part of Monday and yesterday doing some Internet research on biting at daycare. One particularly helpful article stated that although biting is normal, it should never be considered acceptable. The article states that childcare workers need to understand why a child is biting (is he teething? Frustrated? Hungry? Tired? Seeking Oral Stimulation?) Once the reason for biting is understood, preventative measures can be put into place.

The article goes on to say that childcare facilities should assign someone to shadow the biter and look for signs that biting might soon occur (tired, hungry, conflict over a toy). If a worker can spot a situation that may lead to biting, he/she can remove the biter from the situation.

The author acknowledges that childcare workers can’t prevent 100% of biting and that when a biting incident occurs; immediate action needs to be taken. The author recommends a firm, unique tone of voice and say, “NO Billy STOP. You may not bite Joey. Biting hurts Joey.” The author suggests that 2 adults run over to the situation – one to deal with Billy and one to comfort Joey. If 2 adults aren’t free, the first priority needs to be dealing with Billy the Biter.

All this makes sense to me. I’m going to pick up the kids early and share these observations with the director. I’m hoping that they can put some programs in place to prevent as many biting incidents as possible – for Libby Doodle Doo and the other children. If not, it may be time to think about another option for childcare.