Is this the end of our breastfeeding journey?

[Ami100]

So I've posted before that my son had a cold and was teething and biting during breastfeeding. He's 8.5 months old. And recovered from his cold and we started feeding without biting again ... only for him to get another cold a week later and is now biting again .

Pretty sure the biting is due to blocked nose, teething and my lowering milk supply (I've been expressing and topping up with formula since Thursday to feed him).

Should this mark the end of our breastfeeding journey? I'm thinking this is the beginning of the end ... he still manages one sleepy breastfeed between 2-6am when my prolactin levels are high without biting ..

Feeling very sad today:(

[KatieKat88]

If you can increase the amount he feeds your supply should recover, but if you keep supplementing it will go down. I found my DD was more likely to bite if she wasnt really bothered about feeding and I offered, so try to be responsive rather than force it. Dark, quiet room so he isn't distracted. If it's teething it will pass, it just depends if you're able to stick it out until then (no judgement either way! Biting sucks)

[SpamIAm]

My DS bites whenever he's teething. Now he has 4 teeth he can get a pretty good grip on my nipple with his teeth 😩 he stops when the tooth is through though.

Your supply should be fine if you stop topping up with formula. I wouldn't think there's any need for top ups at this age.

[Cuppaand2biscuits]

This is the sort of age where they can get quite distracted by other things happening around them.
Try lots of skin to skin as this really helps to get your hormones flowing to produce the milk and hopefully will help you both to relax. If you are feeling a bit anxious about being bitten that will effect feeding.

[BertieBotts]

It's such a common thing. It doesn't have to be the end if you don't want it to be. I found I got really good at observing the changes just before they bite and I could interrupt the feed and say no biting.

Of course if you want to choose this opportunity to stop that's fine too :)

Spam if I understand correctly OP is completely bottle feeding at the moment to avoid being bitten, but using a mixture of ebm and formula as it can usually be hard to express a lot of milk by 8 months if you haven't been doing it regularly.

[Fivebyfive2]

@Ami100, First off, you've done so well getting this far! If you want to stop then don't feel sad or guilty, breastfeeding is a two way thing and it needs to work for both parties or it just isn't worth it.

But, if it's making you feel upset and you really want to carry on, maybe try looking into different positions and ways to latch to minimise the biting? Or take him off for a few minutes after a bite and then let him back on, see if he maybe gets the message? I'm not an expert by any means, but sites like Kelly mom, nct and laleche should have resources to advise. Or maybe a Facebook group? The same for stopping, they should have some info on the best ways to gradually cut down feeds, to make it easier on both of you.

Another thought; he may just be naturally needing less milk, I think around about this age feeds reduce, especially in the day. They're having more solids, they're coming on in development, so exploring and trying to move around are wayyyy more exciting to them than going on the boob! My ds is 11 months and from about 9 months his feeds started reducing. I'm in the process of very gentle weaning, hoping to have him weaned by just after 12 months.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do 🙂

[Ami100]

@BertieBotts and @SpamIAm yes I'm only expressing 30ml at best so need to top up for a full feed . Too scared to put DS on boob for fear of biting

[SpamIAm]

Ah ok, didn't realise it was all bottle feeds - I tried to express for DS while I did a KIT day the other week, took me 2 days to get three ounces and he refused it 😂

With my daughter I used to take her off if she bit and put my boob away, only for 10 seconds or so. Couldn't really say whether it made much difference or not but might be worth a try if you do want to get back to breastfeeding.

Definitely agree that they're so easily distracted, I can't feed DS if DD is in the room (or making noise in a nearby room) so try feeding somewhere quiet and boring.

You have my sympathies though op, it's horrible when they bite. And then DS cries because I flinch?? I'm the one that should be crying!

[bumpyknuckles]

I had a couple of biting incidents with my little one. I ended it by watching her like a hawk and as soon as she went to bite me, I'd unlatch and sternly say 'no biting', stop feeding her and put her down. I knew when she was going to bite me because she'd look straight at me with a glint in her eye first!

Kellymom is full of great advice about breastfeeding. Try this:

kellymom.com/ages/older-infant/biting/

The bottle feeding might not be helping - they sometimes bite when the milk doesn't come quickly enough (it's harder work to get milk out of a breast than a bottle teat). Try getting him to drink from an open cup instead of a bottle. Or use a newborn bottle teat or minbie to slow down flow.

[ZooKeeper19]

@Ami100 my LO did the same and I called it quits. He was not bothered, he was way too mobile to sit and BF and absolutely OK with a bottle so no regrets. He was I think about 9m or so when I gave up, and he was eating practically all the time anything he would see so not milk-dependant either.

[Mamabear12]

If you want to continue breastfeeding I would just continue offering it. Do skin to skin. At 9 months around when my dd just got over a cold (maybe she had ear infection after or throat). Anyway, she suddenly went from fully breastfeeding to refusing feeds! I was shocked. Her last feed was 1pm and she refused the 6pm feed and then again at 1am when she woke. I was worried so went down and found a bottle and made formula to feed her (she always refused formula, but we used it in porridge). And to my complete shock she drank then 6 full ounces!!! I only ever managed to get her to drink 3 ounces max from a bottle of pumped milk. Anyway, then I had to pump all her feeds and I still offered her my breast (she refused and didn’t even try to latch on. She just turned her head). I questioned if she was done breastfeeding. I told myself I would give it two weeks before I moved on. I kept offering through out the day (but she always refused). We did skin to skin. Bath together etc. And finally after five days she latched on and went back to fully breastfeeding again. And now she again refuses bottle. So something was clearly bothering her. Could be same for you.