Biting, frequency of feeds

[showtunesgirl]

DD is nine 1/2 months old and during the last few days she's started to get much more mobile and is slithering around a bit to get to places. She's BLW and going great guns with it and is very dextrous with food and is not making all that much mess and judging by her nappies is definitely eating a fair amount.

The thing is, she seems to be really off her milk now. I expected her to decrease but today she only really wanted to have milk about three, maybe four times today.

Another problem is that when she's not that interested and I offer she's biting which really bloody hurts. And even when she IS interested, she's still biting initially before correcting her bite. She has two bottom teeth and a newly acquired top one. I kind of expected her to have to "re-learn" her latch with each new tooth but it really is starting to get me down the amount of times she just bites. I'm now actively dreading feeds.

When she does bite, I press her gently towards me to make her come off which usually does the trick but I am getting mixed signals at the moment. Is she biting because I'm offering too often, or it really is just a latch thing.

I know that nursing strikes are fairly common round about now but as she does still want milk about every 4/5 hours I guess that's ok? She does take water at meals but I am loathe to offer it more often as I'm worried she just will get full up on that and won't any milk anymore.

Any advice?

I feel your pain (literally!), DD has just come out of quite a bad biting phase and I found that she also would bite when she wasn't interested. In my case though I think I was causing the problem a bit as I was kind of holding my boob when offering it to her so I could watch her latching but in doing that, I was holding my boob back and so she'd latch (and bite) the nipple. Now I have to actively let her latch herself and it's much better, got bitten briefly today when she first latched but she corrected herself when I jumped. I still dread it watching her mouth open before she latches on and seeing those 2 sharp teeth! I'm still really anxious though that she'll bite.
DD is 8 months and I'm finding that her feeds have dropped a bit since she started taking more solids (she's BLW as well). She still feeds in the night though so I'm not too worried. She also feeds to sleep and her naps fall between mealtimes so it usually works out that she's had a feed around about 1-2hrs before solids. I also offer when she wakes up but she only ever takes a quick sip unless it's been a massive nap.
Sorry, not offered any constructive advice, just wanted you to know you weren't alone.

No worries fhdl34, sometimes it's not just solutions that we need but just to know that others out there are going through the same thing! I'm in London and I just don't know that many mums that are still BF at this age which is a weird thing to say as DD is not even THAT old!!!

I hear what you're saying though and I think I am actively expecting it to hurt as well so I'm probably not letting her latch properly! I'll try to just let her get on with it but I'm just so apprehensive!

I know what you mean, most of the BFing mums I've met with babies of similar ages have either stopped BFing or are mix-feeding on the way to stopping completely. I started going to a LLL meeting a few months back and I'm finding that's really helping me as it's people who I can talk to in RL about BFing. I've found the biting quite hard, but I'm a stubborn mule and I'm still determined to let DD self wean.
I've found when I feed DD at night, I'm not apprehensive at all, possibly because I'm half asleep, but also I think it's because I feed her in the dark and so I can't see her latch anyway so just have to let her get on with it. I also try and keep her quite close so she can't pull away as easily.
Similarly with feeding lying down, she bites more often I think because I can't keep her as close because of my big boobs, it's hard to get in the right position.

Ah well DD never bites during night feeds. So I am guessing it's might be a frustration issue as well?

hi showtunes...

Your post, word for word, could have been written by me. Even about how many teeth your child has!

I don't know how much help my experience is... Anyway, my little monkey daughter definitely bites when she just isn't interested. Usually at the end of a short feed and sometimes at the start, if she just doesn't want it. I'm now only feeding her 4 times a day too, and giving her water at the end of her solid meals. Even then, she doesn't really want a milk feed after her lunch. So sometimes, if I feel she's not had much at the first morning feed, I give her a breastfeed before her lunchtime solids.

What to you do when she bites? I was letting out a little scream (cos it flipping hurts) and that made her laugh (hurrumph) so I've stopped that as it makes her do it more! I just silently take her off when she does it and leave that feed.

I think if weight gain is OK and they are not dehydrated, having fewer feeds is OK. I'm trying to take my cues from her.

It flipping HURTs - you have my sympathy!!

No DD doesn't bite at night either, sometimes I wonder if I'm tense during the day, anticipating a bite, and it makes her tense and then she bites. Sort of a vicious circle.
It's been a bit of shock for me as BFing went quite smoothly to begin with, never had any issues with blocked ducts or mastitis and then this biting lark. Have my LLL meeting on Friday though so looking forward to that and talking through it.

Well I WAS telling her no quite sternly but I think she now thinks that's funny so I will be trying the silent treatment.

I was also going to get her weighed today but as luck would have it, the fire alarm went off and they had to evacuate the building! DD has never had any probs with regards weight though so I will check it out next week and it should be fine.

I hear you fhdl, BF was hard to establish at first due to complicated EMCS and recovery but for the most part it's been pretty easy going. I don't want to give up now.

DD is going to a childminder's from the end of next month so I guess I will be looking to go to two feeds a day, with maybe one expressed during the day so in a way, her wanting to reduce now is probably a blessing in some ways.

do your bites include blood?

One bite of DDs made me bleed. I couldn't believe 1 little nick could hurt so much! To be fair to her though, it probably only bled because I was so shocked I accidentally pulled her off me with nipple still in clamped in her little teeth. Thankfully it all healed okay.
showtunesgirl perhaps that is a blessing if she's going to have to reduce anyway. Will she take expressed milk? We only tried DD on it once and she didn't like it. I'm already back at work but longest shift is 3hrs and she just waits till I get home. She has a meal during that time and access to water at the meal and it's going okay so far.

Yes she has drawn blood once!

Yes, she does take expressed milk but I guess I won't have to pump for long though as when she starts at the childminder's she will 3 weeks shy of a year.

Is she teething? Ds will bite and is def less interested in general when he's cutting teeth. It'll last a few days, a tooth appears and he'll return to normal. I am assuming it hurts his gums during that time.

Ouch, really feel for you... I've had a bit of biting but no blood (thank goodness!) I'd second the suggestions about trying to drop a feed. I only get wriggling and biting if DS isn't interested. I'm always reluctant to drop feeds as I was (am!) a bit paranoid about his weight, but invariably it makes the other feeds go a LOT more smoothly.

Yes, she's teething and I think I need to brace myself that there will be a re-learning of latch with each new damned tooth.

However, I think that she is also just ready to go down on feeds too. For example, I fed her at noon today and I tried at 4 but she just bit me to tell me no and didn't want any until 530! So I'll just have to be baby led and go with the flow!

After a couple of weeks of no biting, DD bit me repeatedly today when I tried to feed her this afternoon. I gave up in the end as she wasn't interested in either side but had had a massive lunch. The problem was I had to go to work for 2hrs but she was fine and DH said she ate lots for dinner too as she went 5hrs without a proper feed (the session where she bit me she took a little but then stopped after the first letdown). She is also teething I think, and it'll be her 1st top tooth next which I'm really dreading as she's only got her bottom two at the moment and at least the tongue covers those when she's latching. She fed loads last night though, was up 5 times (another sign of teething) so I'm not too concerned about the drop of feed today as over the 24hrs, she's had plenty!

Ah yes, she was up unusually for her last night at 2 and 4. I fed her then as well so over 24 hours she's getting enough I guess. I forgot about that, thanks fhdl for reminding me!

I went to my local BF cafe yesterday and spoke to a Peer Support Worker and the nice HV there who said that I was probably worrying about nothing. In a 24 hour period, she's getting at least 4 feeds and it was best to be baby led on this.

Also, if offering less often meant less biting then to go with the flow!