Biting baby!

[Troilus]

Is it usual for baby to start clamping down on my nipple and biting it?? She is 8 months old and I feed her morning and night. She has just started doing this and has 2 bottom teeth so its really painful! I always hear people saying that they bf for a year plus etc. but I don't think I can carry on if she keeps biting me. Should I stop??

[hunkermunker]

DS bit me several times when he was teething. I tried:

pulling him in to my boob to block his nose and make him more likely to let go to breathe through his mouth - so the theory went... He clung on with the couple of teeth he had, growled and bit harder - it was like feeding an angry puppy!

rubbing teething gel on his gums to make him less likely to want to bite for comfort, with limited success.

giving him something cold to chew on before a feed, he hated that.

feeding him with one hand millimetres away from his chin and watching him closely. As soon as I saw his mouth shape change in an "I'm just about to bite you" fashion, I grabbed hold of his chin, pulled it down, pushed him away from my boob, tapped him gently on the nose and said, "No!". This last one was the one that worked for me, but the others might work for you. The other thing to do is to put her down and refuse to feed her, although if you're predominantly feeding her at night, this might not be the way forward...

Never smile, even if she grins at you. But I'm sure you don't, as it's not bloody funny to be bitten on the nipple! Good luck with it - I found it lasted a couple of days, but was soon over. The anticipation's the worst bit though... I'm still feeding DS, who is 13mo now and has eight teeth.

[NotQuiteCockney]

It's really really normal for them to do this. I think all babies try it at some point.

I've had good success with not reacting at all, just stopping the feed, and putting the baby down and walking away for a minute or two. She might cry, but that's a good thing - if she gets upset, it should stop her from doing it again.

If she's clamping down and you can't get your boob out, you can press her into the boob, firmly, for a second or two. This will alarm her and put her off biting.

Obviously, if you want to stop, you should stop. But if you don't want to stop, this problem should be fixable.

Here is a good link on biting.

[Troilus]

Thanks for the good advice, and the website, great stuff. I will try for a few more days and see if it improves, sounds like it will just be a temporary thing. I hope so. I don't want to give up yet so I will perservere with this one.

[Yorkiegirl]

Message withdrawn

[Flossam]

My DS always thought it was absolutely hilarious to bite me. We are mixed feeding now and he has only done it once since (not in any way suggesting that is the way forward for you Troilus, my milk supply at night time was none existant)

[pixiefish]

My dd has spurts of doing this. Every few months she'll remember. Sometimes I scream, I always pull her off and put her on the floor. I tell her how she's hurt me. She's 16 months

[Gwenick]

DS1 was breastfed for 14 months.

When he started biting I didn't have 'access' to internet, HV etc etc - as it was in the middle of the night.

I did the 'natural' reaction.............yanked him off the boob faster than he could blink. He looked highly bemused and bewildered, but every time he did he I'd do the same thing...........he bit me 4 times before he realised that his milk would 'disappear' in the flash of an eye if he did it again

OK perhaps not the 'recommened' way - but it worked for me