12 mo keeps biting during feed - Is this the end of breastfeeding?

[TheThirdHare]

I love the breastfeeding relationship I have with my 12mo. However since she had her top teeth (she has 4 teeth in total now) she keeps biting me and it REALLY HURTS! She doesn't always do it - mostly when she's tired/ill/teething etc but tonight it was so bad my husband had to put her to bed instead (I normally feed her to sleep).

Whenever she does it I say "no" and remove her from the breast but that never helps, once she starts biting she will keep doing it (making it impossible to feed her to sleep). Also, because it really hurts it makes me shout out in pain, which then makes her cry, which in turn makes me feel like a terrible mum!

As I said, I love bf and would be sad if this was the end of our bf relationship, but what else can I try? Did anyone have a similar problem and managed to fix it? Did anyone stop bf because of this problem?

Thanks for reading and I hope someone can help!

DS did this from about 7 months - I would say no and stop the feed, and then he started doing it to indicate he was finished He continued on and off until I stopped entirely at 13 months (didn't stop because of it though) and once we weren't breastfeeding anymore he would just cuddle me and bite my shoulders/arms instead! He only ever did it to me and we finally stopped it at about 20 months I guess with me getting VERY cross about it and shouting and putting him out of the room every time he bit.

Ds2 sometimes does this when he's teething (which has been pretty constant since 4 months). So far it's not been as bad as with ds1 who actually drew blood when I pulled away as a reflex and he didn't let go

Anyway, what works for me is to gently press his face into my breast which makes him open his mouth. It doesn't upset him but after a couple of times he seems to realize there's no point in biting.

And they do honestly grow out of it. They seem to develop a lot more control after 1. DD was the same at 1 and I really worried I'd have to stop and really understood why so many people wean then!

We're now at 21m and I haven't been bitten since around 13/14m (don't remember exactly but it wasn't long!)

They all do it, but grow out of it quickly. DD is 3.5 and I haven't been bitten (except now and then during teething) for a couple of years

My dd started doing this around 5 months old and she did it for months! She drew blood on one occasion only but try rest hurt a lot. She never grew out of it but we would go through fits and starts. I never stopped getting anxious when she latched on, I used to have to look away. It could happen anytime in a feed as well, not just the end. I would never have let it stop me feeding her but it made it harder. She self weaned at 19 months when I was 4 months pregnant and my colostrum came in, our penultimate feed she bit me both sides, thankfully she fed again the next day for 10 seconds each side which turned out to be our last feed. Hopefully it won't continue for you but it never stopped for us although definitely lessened. When my supply dropped on getting pregnant the biting increased then too

Ds did this when teething for a couple of months at about 10 months - he'd clamp down then drag off (owwwww!) and if I got him off without doing it he'd try and feed again just to do the clamp/drag thing!

I sorted it in the end by changing the position I fed him in for a few days - I started using a rugby ball hold, which confused him and he stopped clamping immediately from recollection. I was desperate by that point and v sad that it might be the end of BFing him (my mum told me it was a sign he wanted to wean but I went to a BFing drop in where they said it was just him soothing his gums/habit) - but we stopped it and I fed hm til he was 3 in the end, so don't despair. :)

All mine did the biting at some time.

With DD1 it did put me off and once was enough to stop bfing.
DD2 was only when she was teething and she did a grinding which was agony. I did feed through it though and went on for another 18 months with no biting.
DD3 did it a couple of times on pull off but I think after several years constant bfing my nipples didn't notice.

You can feed through it if you want, remember if he is teething then he will try anything to soothe his gums. Try changing position or using some bonjela. I did once use that directly on my nipple when DD1 started teething at 3 months old and it did work for her although she didn't bite me for another 4 months.

DS2 did from about 7m. DD and DS1 never did. It was horrible, he bit very hard, and made my nipples bleed several times. I tried all the advice but he didn't stop so I weaned him. Annoying as I had intended to feed for a few months longer and didn't want to naff about with FF but I had bad scabs and he would bite hard pretty much every time.

My DD went through a short stage and everytime I took her off and told her no, put her back on and if she done it again I took her off and said no but then wouldn't feed for 10min or so, she stopped pretty quickly

Thanks for your replies, I'm glad to hear that - at least for some babies - it was just a fase.

fhdl34 I recognise that feeling of anxiety everytime he latches on. Debs75 I might try some bonjela, thanks!

If my DD bites me, which is very rare, now she in latches and cries because she knows I'm going to do it and then she'll
Latch back on and try to quickly suckle and won't bite again