Toddler Biting at Daycare — Policy & What Parents Need to Know | Daisy Days Regina SK

If you receive a call from daycare saying your toddler bit another child — or that your child was bitten — it can be alarming. At Daisy Days Daycare in Regina SK, our ECE educators are experienced in managing toddler biting with expertise and compassion. Here’s what every Regina SK parent needs to understand about toddler biting at licensed daycare.

Why Toddlers Bite — It’s Developmental, Not Defiant

Biting is one of the most common behavioral challenges at licensed daycares in Saskatchewan for toddlers aged 12-30 months. It happens because:

• Language hasn’t caught up to emotions: Toddlers have intense feelings — frustration, excitement, desire — but lack the words to express them. Biting is a communication tool.
• Oral exploration: Young toddlers in particular explore the world through their mouths. Biting an object or peer can be sensory, not aggressive.
• Cause and effect: Toddlers are fascinated by what happens when they do things. The dramatic response to biting is interesting to a 16-month-old brain.
• Overwhelm: Group care environments are stimulating. A toddler who is tired, hungry, overstimulated, or crowded is more likely to bite than a calm, well-rested child.
• Teething: Gum pressure from emerging teeth can trigger oral-motor behaviors including biting.

What Daisy Days Daycare Does When Biting Happens

Our ECE educators respond to biting incidents with a specific, consistent protocol:

1. Immediate attention to the bitten child: The child who was bitten receives priority care — cleaning the wound, comfort, and assessment of severity
2. Calm response to the biting child: The child who bit is given a brief, calm, clear response (“Biting hurts. We don’t bite people.”) — not a shaming response
3. Incident documentation: Both incidents are documented on an incident report form, signed by staff
4. Parent notification: Both families are notified of the incident at pickup with the incident report. Saskatchewan licensed daycares typically do not name the biting child to the bitten child’s family.
5. Environmental review: Educators review whether scheduling, space, materials, or staffing factors contributed to the biting and adjust accordingly

What You Can Do as the Parent of a Biting Toddler

• Don’t panic or shame: Your toddler is not a “bad kid.” Biting is a phase the vast majority of toddlers go through and move past.
• Communicate with educators: Tell the ECE team if your child is teething, sleep-deprived, ill, or going through a home transition — context helps educators prevent incidents
• Practice words at home: Build vocabulary for emotions at home (“frustrated,” “need space,” “want a turn”) to give your toddler language alternatives to biting
• Avoid overreacting: If you make biting a huge event at home, toddlers sometimes bite more for the dramatic response

→ Behaviour guidance policy at licensed daycares in Saskatchewan
→ How to communicate with your daycare educators
→ Child development milestones guide

Contact Daisy Days Daycare to discuss your toddler’s needs.
306-807-3233 | info@daisydaysdaycare.com | 2007 Potts Crescent East, Regina SK S4V 2E5