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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

Biting.......

14 replies

pesme · 05/06/2004 22:55

need I say more. dd has first tooth at 4 1/2 months. I am hoping to bf ages but today she had a good old chomp and i am abit nervous. once bitten twice shy as the saying goes. any advice?

OP posts:

baldrick · 05/06/2004 23:05

ds and dd were a little older, but have to say once they got their first tooth at 11 months I took to a beaker cup of cow's milk, a bit of a cop out I know (didn't help when sil said once they get their teeth it's mother nature's way of stopping breastfeeding)..

pesme, do you feel comfortable doing this even though dd has teeth?? because if you do it's after all what YOU are comfortable with (have heard of mothers breastfeeding for nearly 18 months) please feel comfortable with your own thing...good luck

nicmum2boys · 05/06/2004 23:43

DS2 was born with 2 teeth (much to my dismay!!) and biting became a way of life! I did find though just taking him off every time it happened soon got the message through, many tears (on both sides) but he is now 11 months and we're still bf. In the meantime rubbing breastmilk onto the sore spot (understatement of the year!) I found heals it up really quickly. Good luck!

Posey · 06/06/2004 20:48

My ds bit me in the early days of having teeth (I think it was the novelty of having teeth!). I yelped with the shock and pain first time he did it and he then refused to b/f for more than 24 hours (the expressor worked overtime then). He's only done it a couple of times since. The immediate reaction is to pull away, but thats really painful. I had 2 recommendations (from mumsnetters). One was to hook your finger in their mouth and prise them off, the other was to push your breast further towards baby so it covers their nose so they automatically open their mouth to breathe. I found the first suggestion easier.

Its really up to you whether it takes away the pleasure of bfing. My sister's ds was such a nipper thats what led her to stop. My ds was an infrequent biter and hasn't done it at all for several months. He's now 17months and we still feed morning and night.

prettycandles · 06/06/2004 21:09

Pretty much ditto Posey's post.

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! And I'm still feeding her at 17m.

The instant she bites hug her 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 her.

Every time she bites, take her off the boob and put her down for a moment. Then resume the feed (do yourself a favour - the other boob). If she bites again the feed has to be over. You could try telling her what and why, babies understand a lot more than we give them credit for. Offer her a teether instead, especially if you know that she is teething.

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

Pidge · 08/06/2004 09:10

dd had her first teeth at 5 months - I'm still feeding her once a day and she's nearly 2 years old! So teeth don't mean that you have to stop feeding if you don't want to. She did nip me hard a few times in the early days, but I would just take her off and end the feed and she soon stopped doing it.

I did find once she got her top front teeth that I have tiny teeth marks after each feed - this sounds terrible, but it really doesn't hurt. In fact if you just rest your finger nails on the surface of your hand for 10 seconds you see nail marks, and it's a similar thing with the feeding.

Original poster

pesme · 08/06/2004 09:22

Thanks folks

She hasn't bitten me since so hopefully it won't be too much of a problem.

OP posts:

poppyseed · 08/06/2004 12:43

Have breast fed both of our children DD (now 5 yo) fed until 16 months and DS 13 months and still feeding. DS is a bigger nipper than his sis was but I echo prettycandles advice. Say no and take them off the breast when they do it. After all if they are biting then they are not really feeding so shouldn't be there for a play about!! You could try bonjela teething gel before you feed so that the temptation to use you as a teether subsides!? Good luck..

Tommy · 10/06/2004 14:32

Read this thread the other day and have since discovered 4 new teeth on DS2! He's not biting me as such, more a continuous gnawing which is quite painful. I put Lansinoh on them which has helped a bit but I don't really want to give up just yet (he's 9m)I might try the bonjela on him before a feed. Any more ideas?

Pidge · 10/06/2004 15:23

Tommy
Can you work out which teeth are causing the irritation? I always found it was a problem with the top two teeth at the front, and I think I did sometimes try to adjust the feeding position to take the pressure off. You shouldn't get any trouble from the lower teeth - if he's feeding properly the tongue should lie over these teeth.

If you find you're only getting sore towards the end of the feed, I think at this age it's fine to just take them off the breast as it probably means they're starting to 'chew' rather than drinking milk!

And if there's any biting - definitely just end the feed. They soon learn!

Good luck.

jane313 · 10/06/2004 22:58

When my son used to do it (I breastfed for about 6 months when he had teeth) I used to scream (not on purpose but with shock and suprise), he then came off the nipple by himself, looked mortally offended, screamed himself and then got back on again. He used to do it about once every couple of days or less, but luckily never drew blood or hung on.

Tommy · 10/06/2004 23:13

I managed fine with just the 2 lower teeth but he suddenly grew 4 across the top and it's these that are hurting. It also seems to be worse on the last feed of the day so maybe he's tired and using me as a bit of a teether. I have decided that DH is going to give him a bottle of ebm tomorrow and we'll probably start weaning him off - particularly that last feed anyway. A bit sad but I guess he's got to stop sometime and Mummy having her nipples bitten off seems like a good enough reason...

Tommy · 10/06/2004 23:15

Just realised that in 9 hours I have changed my view completely! Had a very painful bedtime feed today

prettycandles · 11/06/2004 13:38

Tommy, have a look at your positioning. When dd was about 6m I started getting sore nipples and blisters, just as if I was feeding a newborn. I had a chat with an NCT BFC and she suggested that I might be getting a bit slap-dash with experience and not ensuring that dd was properly positioned. I went back to first principles and, lo and behold, within 2 days everything was back to normal.

DD has always been a very rough - even violent - feeder, and TBH I've not found that having teeth made any difference overall.

Tommy · 11/06/2004 21:25

This evening was OK! We tried him on a bottle of ebm at 7pm but he wouldn't take it and just cried. Tbh he has been a bit grouchy all day so today probably wasn't the best day to change the routine but...we brought him down at 8pm as he was crying and keeping DS1 awake and he fed really well and painlessly. So, I think, when he's not really feeding, just snuzzling, it hurts. Maybe I should give him his tea earlier or something. Ah well...

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