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Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Infant feeding

Ouch BITTEN - please help!

17 replies

susanmt · 14/01/2003 16:09

Ds has bitten my nipple today! He is 11 months and has 8 teeth, and this morning when I was feeding him mid morning he bit HARD and drew blood!! It is REALLY sore - my bra hurts it, not wearing a bra hurts, breastpads (dug out from back of drawer) hurts too. I can't imagine feeding him with it.
What can I do to help it heal up quick? Should I try to feed on it anyway and just bear the agony, or leave it for a couple of days? Will it affect my supply if I do that? I usually feed him 4-6 times a day or so at the moment, and the other nipple will get sore if I don't alternate!
Any advice, PLEASE?????

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mam · 14/01/2003 16:20

Been there. Try soothing it with some of your own breastmilk. He is probably just testing/trying out his teeth afraid to say but when he knows you don't like it he should stop or he will soon know he wont be getting it and if he isn't bothered about not getting it then he may be ready to stop comforting thought that he is nearly a year old so that's great (IMO). My ds made a bit of a game of it and I could see by the look in his eyes but after the first time he knew never to do it again. Hope this helps, good luck and if you find it too painful to feed with that breast in my experience both from the early days and later on a few days doesn't stop the milk however you may feel uncomfortable and want ds to feed from it. Hope this helps! Sure you will get someone really in the know answering you soon.

mears · 14/01/2003 16:41

Offer the bitten breast second so that he will have had his thirst quenched on the other side and not suck so vigorously. Rubbing in some breast milk may help - airing nipples to promote dry healing is not advocated now, moist wound healing is the order of the day. You could try som vaseline, Purelan or Lansinoh may be helpful.
If it is raelly intolerable to feed then remember to expres milk from that side so that you do not get overful.
I found that after being bitten I could still feed from that side, albeit nervously. If you are bitten again themn stop the feed. They soon learn that it is not in their interest to bite. Hope it heals soon.

SoupDragon · 14/01/2003 18:06

Ouch! I never got bitten that badly but I was bitten on about 4 or 5 occasions in my bf "career". Each time I resumed feeding, I had my finger at the ready to prise him off but soon relaxed into it again.

Each time, I did as Mears said and stopped the feed. If they bit again immediately after, they didn't get that feed and got a bottle if necessary. They seemed to learn

Does your DS have a cold or something? Maybe teething? There was generally something else bothering my 2 on the occasions they bit me.

HTH

susanmt · 14/01/2003 20:01

Yep, he bit because he is teething. Did as mears suggested this evening when putting him to bed and gave him some from that side second and he was great. It was sore, but along the lines of the 'owowowowowowow ahhhhhhhhh' sore you get when feeding a newborn! I fed dd for 13 months and, as I said, he is 11 months, and this is my first real bite, so I've done fairly well.
Thanks for the advice!

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SoupDragon · 14/01/2003 21:38

Ah yes, the toe curling followed by grimacing followed by a relaxed smile. I remember it well.

Glad it was OK.

aloha · 14/01/2003 21:48

No advice, but, ooh, poor you!

mears · 14/01/2003 22:06

Glad it worked. Sometimes the fear of feeding is worse than actually doing it. Hopefully it was a one-off.

iota · 14/01/2003 23:00

At 8 months my ds2 not only bit, but twisted his head away at the same time - really, really painful. He then laughed when I told him off - even more galling! After a few days of this it was apparent that he no longer wanted to breastfeed in any serious fashion, so we parted company. It was sad though - my little baby rejecting me

mears · 14/01/2003 23:14

Didn't let on before but my last baby rejected me after I yelled out when she bit me. She got such a fright she would not go back on no matter how hard I tried - and I tried for 2 weeks. She was 15 months old but, being my last, I hoped to feed for longer. A very sad way to end such a wonderful experience as breastfeeding. Oh dear, I feel pretty sad now Even sadder because I am supposed to be writing an assignment but am putting myself under pressure by avoiding the job in hand and depressing myself here!!

forest · 15/01/2003 01:04

I am so sorry to hear about the end of your bf "career" mears. I have been bitten a few times and I can tell she is trying out her teeth (only 2 so far) and she does look at me funny when I have yelped in shock - so much so that she doesn't want to get on that breast for a while. Anyway, no advice only a bit of symapthy and hope you heal up quickly.
And mears - I am surprised that they recommend moist wound healing as what helped in those first few weeks when I had a cracked nipple was rubbing breast milk on it and leaving it out in the air (before the midwife suggested that, I had been leaving soggy breast pads on it).

mears · 15/01/2003 09:17

You are quite right forest - the advice up until very recently was to put EBM on sore nipples and expose them to the air. Hoever, it is now recognised that the moist healing method should be used as that is the best way for healing to take place.
Think about having chapped lips - the best way to heal them is tp put on lip balm. Our hospital advises women to put on jelonet, a vaseline impregnated gauze, or purelan or lansinoh cream. Works much better.

jasper · 15/01/2003 10:01

I can remember hearing women saying how sad they were when bf ended and I thought they were off their heads. My baby is 10m now and still feeds a lot and I am already feeling sad at the thought it will all be over!
How things change

jasper · 15/01/2003 10:03

Not great weather at the moment for exposing nipples to the air...they might get blown off.

SoupDragon · 15/01/2003 10:04

I know what you mean, Jasper. I had a mixture of relief at getting "my" body back and sadness at losing that special snuggly feeling

I've not fed DS2 since May and I still want to do it when he's unwell or distressed.

susanmt · 15/01/2003 10:20

Much better today - I offered the sore breast second this morning when he came into bed to feed (at - amazingly 7am!! It has been 6.30 for ages so I enjoyed my extra half hour). Seems to have healed up well overnight. I found I had the remains of my pot of 'Tender Nipple Treatment' cream left over so I put that on last night - can't use lanisoh etc as I am allergic to lanolin. I think it helped overnight and when I fed him a wee while ago before his morning sleep I gave him that breast first and it was fine.
He also hasn't attempted to do it again - I think he was just experimenting with the teeth. I really don't want to stop yet, as he is only 11 months and, like mears, he will be my last baby and I have envisaged feeding for 18 months - 2 years.

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Katherine · 31/01/2003 09:42

Oh brings tears to my eyes. Remember when DD bit me and drew blood. It was SOooooo painful. And I yelled, but it didn't put her off feeding thank goodness. I always found calendula ointment great for healing boobs for whatever reason, seemed to work overnight. Also found that when I offered the sore breast although it hurt like hell at first it died down after a bit. I'm sure he will stop biting soon. I always think it must be really confusing for them to suddenly have teeth. I suppose you've got to learn what to do with them and where to put them when feeding etc IYSWIM

susanmt · 31/01/2003 10:51

He has stopped biting again now. I think he was teething as a couple of days after this 2 of his second incisors came through at the same time.
So back to the feeding as normal now - can't beleive I am still demand feeding an almost 1 year old, never thought I would!

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