ouch, 9 mth old biting nipples

[LGP]

hi, this is my first posting. my almost 9 mth old has taken to biting hard when feeding. got his 2 front teeth for christmas and today bit several times. each time he got a rather loud reaction and a firm 'no'. tonight I tried to give bedtime feed and gave him about 4 chances but he bit hard every time, even on full boob. Each time I did the same thing. On the last try he just cuddled in and refused to try again. went to bed with no milk and mummy feels dreadful. don't want to give it up yet but getting out the bottles as too painful :-( any advice appreciated, am really upset.

Only had this happen with my third. Advice I got (maybe from on here, can't remember) was either (1) say 'no' firmly and remove from breast each time ie just as you have done or (2) bring him closer into you as he does it - think the idea with this one is to force him to let go as he gulps for air. Tried both ways and he soon got the message (not sure which of the two did the trick).

HTH

butterfly

Oops, meant to say with (2) and in thus doing, put him off biting in case you do it again.

Poor you LGP. My ds also got his teeth for xmas and has had a few goes at using them, though it sounds as if you have it worse. Teething has coincided with him wanted to nurse less often, for instance in the middle of the night he will refuse a breast. I have done the opposite of what I thought I would do and left all the bottles and sippy cups in the cupboard, that way if he needs a drink he will be so intent on getting his milk that he forgets to bite IYSWIM.

I am driven by my mother constantly telling me (until I want to hit her) that his first tooth would be my last feed. Well he has three now and whenever he bites I remind myself that she is waiting for me to fail and that kind of gees me on. Telling me I can't do something is the way to get me to dig my heels in.

thx butterflymum, am inspired to persist. after a good nights sleep, feel a bit better and will keep trying. on the first feed this morning he was fine with one boob, then as he latched on the second he started to bite and i gasped. he then got a bit upset and refused to go back on. will keep trying as per your comments bobthebaby!

It does get better!!
My dd now has eight teeth, and we have been through several biting stages, but it once the teeth come through she stops doing it.

When she bites i say no and take her off (only for a second) then she continues feeding. There have been times when i'm brought to tears, but i think my either my nipples have toughened or she bites less hard!!

The best advice I got was from the NCT site which said to push baby's face into your breast and due to lack of airflow to nose (instinctive reaction) baby will let go of nipple and not tighten bite...
And of course being survival reflex means they think twice before doing it again!
It worked for me both times one bite, one baby!
xx J

Hi LGP - I saw this Thursday morning and had a preminition that someone would be posting this question! (That could have been because I was feeding in agony once again) I have the same problem - well I have long-term thrush and long cuts in my nipples as well, but that's another issue.

Just to say tho' is he really biting or is it a kind of nibble? DD had had the odd real chomp but she knows that she's doing that. However I rarely get a pain-free feed as I seem to have the imprint of her teeth every time. I'm pretty certain that that is due to poor positioning and I have to say that trying to be more careful, using different positions etc has made it a lot better.

That doesn't solve his tears though and I've no advice there. Hope it's getting better