biting till I bleed - nipple shields?

[mashpot]

My 6 month old has his 2 bottom teeth and more on the way. While breastfeeding he is biting me lots and bit so hard last night he drew blood. I am dreading each feed and my nipples really hurt.

I've tried stopping the feed but he's not a great eater and doesn't seem too bothered and I want to make sure he's had enough. I've told him no, and been cross but really don't thnk he's old enough to understand - or if he does he's a monkey as he just smiles up at me!

So are nipple shields the answer or is there anythng else I could/should try?

Thanks

You poor thing. There's no pian like it, is there?!

My DS started biting at 10 months, and I took it as a sign that he was done with bf'ing, but by then he was down to just a morning boob, and a drink of formula in a bottle before bed (because he was such a minxy sleeper, I needed him off the boob as prop at night!). But your LO is younger so I can undertand the wanting him to be full thing!

How many milk feeds is he on now? Is hegettingplenty of dairy elsewhere?

x

Pain, even...you see, the memory of it has made my eyes water and I can't type!

Had that with both dc's. DD is 14 months and last bit when she was about 10months when she was cutting teeth. It seemed to be that she mainly couldn't help it as her gums were so sore.
I said no very firmly and took her off, when I put her on again if she seemed to want to do it again and said no again and carried that on til she got it.
Read somewhere about putting some teething gel on just before they feed, if thats why they are doing it.
My son on the otherhand def did it on purpose. Just as he would open his mouth he would have this gleam in his eyes and I knew he would bite. Very nearly had to give up because of it.

Pain like nothing else, he used to grind his top and bottom teeth on me.....yelp

A breastfeeding supporter told me that babies can find a "cross" reaction quite funny, so she suggested just saying "no" calmly, stopping the feed and putting the baby down for a few minutes. You could try offering a teething toy instead in case they were biting because of sore gums, and if they still seem hungry start the feed again a couple of minutes later.

It's also worth looking out for signs that the baby is coming to the end of a feed, starting to fidget or pull off, and taking them off quickly because they are more likely to bite when they are messing around at the end of a feed. But I know this is difficult if your baby isn't an eager feeder and you're wanting to make sure they get enough - I quite often try to encourage DD to take a bit more, and get bitten because I was ignoring her hints that she wanted to stop.

Sympathies - DS went through a very short phase of biting when feeding when his top teeth were just about to come through. Happily, he didn't repeat it when teething with any others, so hopefully you can get through this and he won't do it again.

I roughly did what Kellymom suggests here - I made sure I was giving him pain relief (I think he was really sore, but as he'd been up at least every 1:30 the night before, my brain hadn't figured that out). If he bit, I took him off and left him for a short time before continuing. He was a little bit older than your DS, but only 7/8 months so not much. I also did positive reinforcement when he didn't bite. I'm not sure this made much difference to him, but it helped me keep calm - I found anticipating him biting nearly as bad as the biting itself.

Nipple shields have their downsides, e.g. there is a risk baby can then refuse to feed without them, but at this age, I'd have thought the main risk is your DS won't accept them. But if you need to, you could give them a try. If he's drawn blood, if you have any lansinoh or similar around from the early days, you could apply that to help it heal?

Thanks all - he bit even harder tonight on same nip and more blood lost. Gah - its super boob as well and I can't face the thought of feeding from it tonight.

I've stopped the cross reactions and stopped the feeds earlier in the day when he bit but I feel like he's not getting enough milk. He does bite after feeding for a short while so maybe he is just sayng he's had enough but sometimes he bites after just a couple of minutes so I feel like he needs more.

I have dug out the lansinoh but the nipple is so sore :(

He used to bite when teeth first came through and then stopped so I hope to God he stops this phase again soon. Otherwise I guess I should buy some shields tomorrow and see if he'll feed with them.