Formula time?

[mumpatrol]

DS is 7months and EBF for the past week he has been semi regularly biting me during a feed. It has increased in frequency over the last couple of days. I wanted to BF for longer but he's got two teeth and when he bites IT HURTS!

AIBU to switch to formula now? I have no idea how I could get him to stop the biting.

Entirely upto you

Have you tried the old 'remove from situation' behavioural modification method?

Every time he bites, you proclaim 'OWW' loudly then he comes off the breast for a bit.

Obviously stopping isn't an issue if that's what you want to do.

I stopped at nine months because of this too. When when DS drew blood it was time for me! I couldn’t stop him keep doing it. It was a shame because I wanted to go to 12 months but for me it was the right time to switch. But it’s entirely up to you. You’ve done great getting this far.

DD only bit me a few times before she realised it wasn't a great idea. If you're keen to keep bf then I'd wait a little bit before you switch.

You decide what you want to do but this alone would not make me want to stop unless there were other reasons. Babies rarely bite when they are fully attached, it is often when they are messing, or coming off the feed. Anticipation is your best bet, take him off the breast as soon as the feel feeding is done so he doesn't use the breast as a toy, The bit that hurts is the actual nipple, not the part behind, so this is the bit he is not allowed to chomp on like a teether. When you do decide to stop there is no need to go to a bottle, transition straight to a cup. He should be introduced to a cup in the next few weeks in any case in addition to his feeds. Once weaning is on the way he can have full cream cows milk as part of his diet as well as breast milk, as long as it is not his only milk. Many mothers find it is good to go straight from breast to cup

I found this helpful when I had the same problem with my first. It gives good info about the causes of biting and the breastfeeding solutions available:

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

Oh, also, one thing not mentioned on that article is biting because of a blocked nose. The solution to that is to squirt some milk up babies nose before hand.

YABU to ask for permission to switch to formula. Just do it if bf isn't working out for you anymore. Ignore the 'but you won't get your golden boobies!' people.

It's never unreasonable to use formula. However if you want help to continue, that's also reasonable.