11months old bitting nipples and scratching mummy

[Zauberfee]

my dear dd is 11months old and usually an absolute sweetheart. I still breastfeed three times in 24hours and I am not keen on stopping yet. she has a lactose intolerance and never drank out of bottles so I never gave her soy/goatsmilk formula as a substitute. She's tried both but does not drink enough. The problem I start having with her now is that she started to bite my nipples and think it's quite funny. I'm telling her off but she thinks it's a game. any suggestions? also she started scratching my face when she's getting tired/hungry. how can I make her see that that not ok? thanks for any help. x

no advice really....just wanted to say ouch!!!!

The only bit of advice that i've heard for dealing with biting is for you to stop feeding straight away, for a few minutes or however long seems right to you. Apparently they soon learn that biting = no food! Oh and i also usually make quite a loud noise (involuntarily due to the pain!) but this also seems to stop it. My DS has bitten me a couple of times but due to teething i think, so i haven't had to try it yet, but if it happens much more i will be! Hope it gets better for you.

I think boo is right, take her away from the boob so she knows she is doing something that means she gets no more! You could try a loud "ow" but this may make it more of a game for her. If you find she likes your big reaction, just quietly put her down and withdraw your attention completely.

Exactly the same approach with the scratching - put her straight down, withdraw attention completely.

ouch Zauberfee - I have had nipple biting too.

I think the advice is not to say ouch, because they like the reaction and it become part of the game but I used to find I couldnt help yelling OUCH!

What worked for me was taking her off the boob, saying firmly 'No Biting' and putting her down on the floor and ignoring her for a minute. The she would ask for milk again and I would offer again.

It did mean that some feeds, especially when she was really tired at bed time I used to end up refusing to feed her because she was nipping, hitting and biting me on neck and arms too. I used to hand her to dh to rock to sleep and then when she woke up in an hour or so hungry would feed her when she was too sleepy too bite.

Am sure it is a phase and you will be able to get through it if you really want to keep feeding.

The advice I was given was to pull the baby into the breast when they bite. This forces them to let go so they can take a breath. People who have done this have said it works really well. However, all I could do was yell OUCH! and stop the feeding session. DS only did it a couple of times and was so shocked at my reaction, he didn't do it again!

thanks for all your suggestions. I will try them tomorrow, however I did manage to keep her of the nipple biting by pressing her face quite close to the breast, so she could only suck, but can't take the nipple half out to bite. xxx

Zauberfee, I would try the advice given in the other posts.

Sorry to be negative, but when my DS did this a lot when he was 14 months, despite me pulling him off etc, I took it as a sign that he was self-weaning.... He was already having cow's milk in a cup or bottle as well and we were down to about 2 feeds a day, but it was still a bit sad to give up...

Am now bf DD who is 5 months, but she is teething a lot sooner than DS, so who knows how long we will carry on for this time...!

HTH

right, tried everything, without success. especially with the ignoring... she just seems like "face, bovvered?" how do you really ignore?

zauberfee, there may be some helpful advice here

I dont think its self-weaning - she's doing it because she's at the age when she can do things to mum and watch the reaction

it blooming hurts like hell when they bite your nipples, I really feel for you

would not do any loud noises or shreaks as yr only giving a reaction and it then becomes a game

thanks, that website was really helpful. x