Two-year-old Raphael Korkis (pictured), who has been attending Lilliput Lodge Day Nursery in Hull since he was six months old, was banned from the nursery in September following complaints from parents about his biting.
His parents were given four weeks to find alternative childcare. Sue Korkis, a school appeals officer for Hull City Council, said she was aware that her son had a biting habit but was 'shocked' by the decision to exclude him.
She said, 'The staff were very supportive and sympathetic and we worked together on various strategies to try to prevent the biting. But nothing worked and it got worse.
'I arrived at the nursery one day to pick him up and heard him being shouted at quite strongly by a member of staff for biting someone. This left me feeling distressed and unsure about the way staff were dealing with the incidents.'
Mrs Korkis said Raphael has now spent two weeks at a new nursery and has so far 'not bitten once'.
She said she believed his habit began after he was bitten repeatedly by another child at nursery when he was 12 months old.
Laura-Mae Wilson, general manager of Lilliput Lodge, said the nursery had been working with Raphael's parents since January on procedures to reduce the biting. 'We had one-to-one meetings with the child, but the biting continued,' she said. 'We cannot physically do anything to stop a child from biting. If I thought there was more we could do, we would have done more.'
Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association, said she could not comment on individual cases, but offered some general advice. 'Nursery staff should remain firm and calm if confronted with an incident such as biting and make it clear to the child that it is the biting that is unacceptable, not the child him/herself. Staff should tend to the victim first and not give the biter more attention than is necessary.
'Staff should record all incidents in the accident book and ensure the parent whose child has been bitten signs the book.'
Mrs Korkis said she was awaiting the outcome of an Ofsted investigation before deciding how to proceed.