20 month old biting me really really hard

[lecce]

I am still feeding ds2 (20 months) to sleep (I know, I know) and the problem is he has developed a habit of grinding his teeth together really hard and finishing the feed with a long, slow and very painful bite. He has never drawn blood or anything but I keep feeling really paranoid that he's going to do me some damage! It's over an hour since I came downstairs and my nipple is still throbbing. Worse than that, it hurt so much tonight I swore at him loudly and nastily. He was fast asleep and didn't even flinch but I still feel horrible about it.

I know I should be encouraging him to fall asleep without me in his mouth but I work f/t and I suppose the feeding is his way of reconnecting with me when I get home, as well as the fact that I am utterly exhausted and I know it's not going to be easy because I have already had several failed attempts.

Any advice would be great.

Break the latch with your finger when he does it and say 'no' very firmly. You may need to change your habits slightly on this if it becoming part of his sleep routine.
I'm sure there will be more advice from other soon.

I've just stopped feeding my 18 month old, and if I was getting bitten I would definitely want to stop BF. If you do, then you might want to try to get someone else to put him to bed for a few nights. My DD does still want to BF and sometimes goes to lie back and lift my top and ask for "noo" but I know she is fine without me and I want to stop.
If you want to continue feeding then I'm sure someone else will help.

Thanks for the replies. I used to be able to break his latch with my finger but now as soon as I introduce my finger he bites down and it makes it worse. I am scared to put my finger anywhere near when he's feeding now. I suppose it probably is a case of needing to stop the routine but that's going to be a struggle!

give him a bottle and be done with it,why risk having your nipple chewed off?

Tricky one. My DD went a bit bitey when she was teething but quickly cottoned on to the fact that I would stop feeding her and put her down immediately if she bit me.
Could you try and sequence your wind down/feed routine at bedtime so you feed earlier, then bath/story etc and get someone else to do the final put down/tuck in for you until you get a different routine in place? If you're happy to keep bf it would be a shame not to try to continue for a while. I was bf too once back at work and it is a lovely way to spend time with your baby at the end of the day.

i would start taking him off before he falls asleep. you may have to put up with a bitten finger a couple of times tho!

How would he react to a nice tickle? Smiling breaks the latch too.

flyinstar - the baby is 20 months old. Surely if it's time to stop BF he won't need a bottle?