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Pestle 11:19 AM 08-08-2017
I honestly don't think the occasional bite is worth getting into a tizzy over. Persistent biting is a problem. . . like any other aggressive behavioral issue.

After reading the book, I put together a "bitey box" for a DCB and sent him to pick a toy from the box whenever he started to get champy. There was a wooden object, a plastic one, a fabric one, and a silicone one. He liked the silicone one best. Right now, I have a kid who teethes constantly and also bites when other kids get up in his space, so I bought him one of those therapeutic bite sticks. He digs it. (The good news is, it's easy to tell when the bite is coming, so before I installed a second gate to keep him separated from the others, he only managed to make contact twice, and only hard enough to leave an impression once. Some kids give a lot of warning before they bite; others don't. The one he left a mark on is such a tough cookie that she didn't make a sound during the bite, so I didn't realize it was happening at first; that was the first time we'd had an issue with him.)

Anyway, there are tons of environmental factors and developmental stages that can lead to biting, so work with your care provider to identify and respond to any and all applicable issues. For instance, my kid with the worst biting? At first he was on the cusp of developing language and would bite when frustrated--and he was frustrated all the time, because he wasn't getting enough sleep at home, so I pestered the parents and also modified my schedule to move meals and nap earlier in the day. Once we got past that, he started biting again and it turned out he was watching The Walking Dead with his dad. Some things can't be fixed by the care provider.
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