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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

Ow ow owwwww 7 month old biting when BF!

11 replies

putthekettleon · 27/01/2011 14:37

Serves me right for saying I wanted to feed past 12 months the other day...

DD2 has 2 shiny new teeth at the bottom. Today for the first time she bit me - really hard! I pulled away, she laughed, we tried again she did it again. I screamed and pulled away, she cried Sad

I've finally switched position and she's feeding ok now... will this happen a lot as she gets more teeth? Will she understand if I tell her 'no'?

Really don't want to stop BF yet but OMFG it hurt!

OP posts:
HollyGoHeavily · 27/01/2011 16:54

Ouch - my DD started to do this when she first got teeth so I sympathise.

If she does it again say 'no' firmly and loudly and take her off the breast for a minute. I found this stopped it pretty quickly for us - she only bit me a handful of times.

JiltedJohnsJulie · 27/01/2011 19:20

I had exactly the same problem with DC1, DC2 never did it though.

I was on the point of giving up but I rang the NCT helpline and they gave me some great tips, so it could be worth giving them a call.

Think there is some good info on biting on Kellymom too Smile

moajab · 27/01/2011 22:34

I've found that once they get used to their teeth they stop biting My DS was biting me a lot at about 8 months with his first teeth, but now aged 2 and with a mouth full of teeth he never bites. I found pinching his nose when he bit me so he couldn't breathe meant that he let go straight away. It didn't hurt him, in fact he use to come off smiling at me, but it seemed to teach him not to bite.

babybear5 · 27/01/2011 22:38

ditto all of the above. I was only bitten a couple of times when teeth came in bout 6 months (front four) but a strict 'no' and removing dd from breast worked a treat. Not been bitten since and dd nearly 1 now Smile

Guacamole · 27/01/2011 22:42

My DS went through a phase of this... It was horrendous, I was terrified every time I fed him. One bite in particular left me bleeding quite badly and it took a while to heal. Thank goodness though... It was only a phase! I learnt to guess when he was going to bite and then he stopped doing it. I know it's not much help, but give it a week or two and the biting should stop.

Notquitegrownup · 27/01/2011 22:47

Echoing the above. When they latch on the tongue covers the bottom teeth, so it doesn't continue. They seem to do it with the first couple of teeth perhaps to experiment/try out what these strange things in their mouths are for!

Ds1 did it a few times. I yelled - out of sheer shock - the first time. The second time I took him off the breast and plonked him on the floor, saying no. He got the message.

He did it once more when I had been trying to delay feeding for some reason. It was entirely deliberate - he watched me to see my reaction which was the same again - straight off with a 'no' and onto the floor.

DS2 never did it. Fed them both until after their third birthdays, with no more trouble from teeth, and lots of nice things to report!

Best of luck

Beveridge · 27/01/2011 22:49

Zero tolerance is required.

I took DD off straight away when she bit me, put her on the floor and ignored her for a minute or two. She hated it!

Brutal, but effective - I can count on one hand the number of times she has bitten me badly (don't panic, she never drew blood!) and she had 4 teeth at 4 months old!

catwhiskers10 · 28/01/2011 10:11

My DD got her 2 bottom teeth at 4 months and started biting and the advice I got (from MN) was to tell her NO, stop feeding her and put her on the floor and walk away for a minute. I did this and it worked a treat, only had to do it twice and she stopped biting.
She's now 11 months and I'm still BF and she's got 8 front teeth, she had a go at biting again the other day and I did the same and it stopped.

catwhiskers10 · 28/01/2011 10:13

Oh also I found that her mouth changed shape just before she got ready to bite so watch closely and have your finger ready to unlatch her just before she bites.

Original poster
putthekettleon · 28/01/2011 10:55

thank you all, she hasn't done it since so I'm hoping my reaction yesterday was enough to put her off. I have to admit I've been tensing up every time she latches on since Sad

It wasn't long after lunch that she did it, when she'd crunched her way through half a pack of rice cakes quite vigorously, so perhaps she had just got used to trying out her new teeth!

OP posts:
Beveridge · 28/01/2011 21:49

Yep, I had those 'feel the fear and do it anyway' moments after a nipping incident!

I think sometimes DD bit because she'd had a twinge of teething pain and it was a reflex action - she did the same thing to my shoulder sometimes! Sometimes though I'm positive she was just doing it to see what happened.

Regardless, she's now 19 months, I'm still bfeeding her and biting has only ever been a rare part of the experience!

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