8 month old breastfeeder started biting - help needed to quit TODAY

[EvanMom]

Help. My 8 month old has started biting me with his two razor sharp teeth and I have to give up feeding today as I cannot bear sitting there a grimacing, nervous wreck with very sore nipples. He only started this new stunt yesterday but did it four times and made me actually cry four times. He clamps his mouth shut, I scream in agony, burst into tears and he then lets go and cries because I startle him. I cannot help it though. He even clamped his mouth shut and shook his head from side to side once yesterday(EEEeeek). No more.

He takes water happily from a cup but I have never managed to get him to take a bottle. Given I have very little time to sort this out some advice is needed, please. Would you persevere with bottles or express into a cup and then eventually replace with formula? How can I deal with fact that he is howling for the breast but I can't bear to give it to him? Also he loves to suck and so if I by-pass the bottle he will not get his sucking comfort from me or the bottle. If I do have to give in at night and breastfeed him, how can I deal with the biting? I know screaming in pain doesn't help (and I am sure he is doing it now to get a reaction?) but what else do you suggest??

Thanks in advance for your help!

i was in same position with my first baby, except when he bit me and i screamed...he refused to go back on the breast again. Fortunately by then he was already having formula as well. I expressed some milk for a few days, so that my milk supply decreased gradually (just to make sure i didn't get mastitis)

If he is refusing to take a bottle try the following:
-have someone else give him bottle (he will smell breast milk if you are holding him, or even in the same room as him!)
-feeding him in car seat or high chair can also help...he may associate being held in anyones arms with "breastfeeding position"
-use Nuk teats (from chemist), they are very soft and milk flows out in very similar manner to breastfeeding.

hope this makes sense, hard to concentrate as baby number two is ready for nap and grumpling at me to get off mumsnet!!
-keep trying...our son needed 5 days of daddy feeding him before he started to enjoy bottle

Oh ouch! My dd nipped me a few times whenever she had a new batch of teeth, particularly if I was encouraging her to keep feeding when she was loosing interest. But it didn't go on!.

The instant he bites hug him tight to you. It goes against your instinct, which is to pull away, but that will hurt you more. You might want to shout NO at that moment too. Thhat might be enough to stop him.

Every time he bites, take him off the boob and put him down for a moment. Then resume the feed (do yourself a favour - the other boob). If he bites again the feed has to be over. Tell him what and why. Offer him a teether instead.

With any luck he will stop within a day, but may resume again - same treatment.

EvanMom, have been in this position twice and the advice prettycandles gives you is excellent IMO. My 7 month old ds (6 teeth!) has stopped biting, he did if for about 2 days off and on but soon learnt.

Good luck.

DS did this at 9 months. I sat ready to put my finger into the corner of his mouth and break his grip immediately, and just lifted him firmly away and stopped feeding him for a few minutes, and he stopped v quickly.
The terrier-like clamp sounds awful...poor you!

Agree, the advice from Prettycandles is excellent and exactly what I followed with ds (now 10mo). My ds got his first bottom teeth at 4mo and after three episodes of me saying "NO BITING" in a firm and loud voice (it did startle him), taking him off, and then resuming the feed 5mins later. I was lucky to only bleed once which took a couple of days to heal after putting a bit of expressed milk on the nipple. Ds then quickly got his other teeth (8 by 8mo!) and we bf till Easter with only a couple of nips since 4mo which weren't his fault (ie. dh barging up the stairs and startling him! arrgh!) Before teeth I could feed anywhere; after teeth I gave all feeds in his quiet bedroom so he couldn't be distracted whilst 'on the job'.

I know what you mean about feeling tense etc. during the feed. If you want to carry on for longer you could give the "NO" advice a go. If you've decided it was about time to give up anyway then I would suggest you express at your current feeds times today, drop one feed time tomorrow, continue to express at all other times and then after about 3-4 days, once boobs have settled, you can drop another feed etc. until you have none left. It can take a couple of weeks (depending on how many feeds you need to drop) to make sure you stop without discomfort. HTH.

BTW, I didn't move to bottles and went straight from boob to spouted cup. I got one in Boots that is clear with Winnie the Pooh on it with a blue lid (non drip). The valve means ds has to suck quite hard to get something out and so still gets his 'sucking fix'. He has also gone straight to cows milk as a drink mid-aftn and eve and has formula with his breakfast (weetabix). Decided to go for the clear cup so he could 'see' it wasn't water, but milk, and he now gets excited when he sees the cup (a couple of weeks in) HTH.

going straight to beaker is great idea...lots of children get very attached to bottle and it can be hard making them give it up later.

Thanks for all the advice. I feel terrible as I have not yet breastfed him today (he normally has 4-5 feeds a day) and I suppose he is going cold turkey poor little chap. I keep offering him breastmilk in a cup and he has grudgingly taken some of it. I cannot bear to be bitten as his teeth are so sharp and my nipples are so sore. I am ready to give up for good but I not sure he is yet. Hence feeling dreadful.

My first son who is now 2 years old took to the bottle at 7 months (after two months of sticking with it - he hated the bottle to start with) and I had fully weaned him by 9 months. Has anyone else given up breastfeeding in a very short space of time? Has anyone else done it quickly and straight to the cup? Should I be concerned about him becoming de-hydrated?

I feel really terrible, but each time I think about feeding him I think about him gripping my nipple with his razor teeth and shaking his head side to side. I just can't do it.

Any other ideas to help him (and me!) through cold turkey?????

I'm sorry, EvanMom, that I misunderstood your posting. I don't really know muchh about rapid weaning, I weaned ds over a couple of weeks, but a bit of afvice which I foound helpful was to wean 'backwards' ie to drop last feed of the day first, then the afternoon feed 3-4 days later, and so on until the last feeed you drop would be the first-thing-in-the-morning one. So I suppose in your case you might express all feeds except the last, then except the last two, and so on.

Have you tried nipple shields? I used the Avent ones several times when I had nipple problems.

Your ds should be able to sleep through by know, if he's getting enough during the day, so you could try offering him just plain water when he wakes.

Anywayup cups need a lot of sucking, so he might take to them.

my dd bit really hard and drew blood and left a razor like cut on my breast, I was a gung ho breast feeder but evne then I was a shivering crying wreck feeding her after that and tried to bottle feed her. The NCT b/f counsellor gave advice similar to pretty candles
Although when dd did it I screamed, plonked her down on the floor and left her crying for 5 minutes while I got control of the blood (it bled a lot!)
I think she got such a fright she never has tried it again and I fed her for another 7 months after that.

Thanks - yes ds sleeps from 6pm-7am and has done for three months. He as not drunk anything at night for this long so night time is not a problem.
I have just succumbed and given a very tentative 3pm feed. We had some nipping and then grinning from him so I reckon he knows something is up.
I think the problem will come at bed time - I am sure this feed is largely comfort and wind down for him... he is not likely to get that from a cup.

Hi Evanmom, I think 'your' weaning process can be different to 'his' if you've decided you want to stop.

For you... you need to express and drop a feed every couple of days at a minimum (I found 3-4 days were needed). The backwards approach PrettyC suggests sounds good. If you're feeding more than twice a day I would think if you went 'cold turkey' it would be quite uncomfortable. The advantage of expressing means you can introduce a cup of EBM rather than formula/cows milk which might aid ds' transition.

For him... like the others I weaned over four weeks so I'm not sure how to get him to accept the new situation other than perserverance and make feeding a fun time. I found giving the cup in front of the tv or on the changing mat helped distract him enough to take some from the spouted cup. He was already taking water from a cup so he was used to the different 'suck' that's needed. The Avent 4mo cups have a soft spout which my ds preferred in the early days. The small TommeeTippie give a faster flow but they're not completely drip proof when the spout is open. If you're concerned that he's not getting enough milk over the next couple of days, until the new regime is accepted, then perhaps up his milk with breakfast or offer him more cheese/framage frais in the mean time.

If you want to try bf again, be firm with him, don't let him mess around. I let him [mess around] first of all and the nips continued. Being firm and giving them a 'shock' (wrong word) makes them realise it's wrong. HTH and let us know how things go.

Do you give any water at the moment? If yes, how do you give it to him? If not, you could introduce that too or try him straight onto juice. I offered new 'drinks' from a dessert spoon first and then offered an open cup once he stopped scrunching his face up in disgust The spout quickly got added and he now leaves it lying around on the floor and picks it up when he wants it (my ds is just 10mo). HTH

Sorry for the long posts!

karen99 - thanks for that. He drinks water and occasionally dilute juice from the small Tommy Tippee cup. Not much, but some.

Today I gave him some formula in a green spouted Avent cup with the valve in (Tommy Tippee small cup seems too fast to drink milk from I think). He actually sucked properly to get it out.

I have breastfed him twice (instead of 4-5 times) today - at 3pm and just now when I put him down. He knows something is going on as he was very tentative when I first put him to the breast (maybe he was puzzled by the look of horror on my face in case he bit me ).

Funnily enough even though I have only breastfed him twice I have no discomfort or engorgement (neither did I have with ds1 when I dropped feeds).

I am going to stick with this rather rapid weaning process. I have to since my nipples or nerves can't take much more!

That's really good news EM. I think it's the same Avent cup my ds is on and once he got the hang of that one he pretty much accepts most cups with a valve. I particularly like the WinnieTP one we have as it makes a normal cup with handles once the spout is off, whereas the Avent one doesn't. Plus the picture makes it fun for him. You can experiment with new ones once he gets the hang of it. I'm sure it will only take a few days.

As for the boobs, I always find the day of giving up the feed(s) is fine, it's the day after slight engorgment seems to come in. Hopefully you'll not get this. And if you do feel full just hand express a bit for relief. They will soon adjust to the new demands (or lack of!)

Well done Not bad for a days efforts!

PS.Sorry about my dreadful spelling! Should proof more!

Sounds like you're doing well, EvanMom. It really is very difficult offering a boob when you're afraid of being bitten. (I've been wincing every time I've read about it in these posts! ) If you can bear to go on this way, then neither of you have to face cold-turkey, and it's easier on both of you. Give your boobs a few days if you can to get used to the new regime, before giving up any more feeds.

Personally, I don't care for the Anywayup-type cups, even though I've used them for ds, because I don't like the sucking - it seems unnatural. I like the Avent spouts with valves, they're the only truly non-drip, easy-sucking cups I've found.

It's day three of my rapid weaning and yesterday he had two good long bite-free breast feeds - one first thing in morning and one last thing at night. He drank some formula from a green spouted Avent Cup during the day (what a good boy). I will stick with this for a week or two then drop the morning feed. I will drop the last feed in three or four weeks time... unless more biting happens. Thanks for your support - it's not as rapid as I thought on Monday but he seems to know he has to be careful as he is very hesitant when first put to the breast. Time for me to give up though - and he doesn't seem too bothered that he is not getting the breast during the day. All in all a bit of a result.

Well done

I carried on the night feed for about 2wks after all others disappeared. One day he just didn't seem interested and also the next aswell. So we both decided to 'call it a day'. As mentioned he now loves his cup and cuddles before bed and I guess it's a turning point in growing up, no longer my 'little baby' but becoming my 'little boy' - time flies!

Ouch! This thread makes me SO grateful that ds didn't get teeth until past his first birthday
EvanMom, it seems to be going well so far. Hope it continues to be a happy experience.

Don't give up! It'd be such a shame. DD had a couple of phases of biting, but only for a couple of days & then it stopped. Managed to keep going until 13 months & 6 teeth & was so glad I'd persevered.

Good Luck