Biting while breastfeeding!

[heartlanddrive]

Hi,

My son has just turned 7 months old, he has two bottom teeth at the moment and has done since 5 months. He's never bitten me before but within the last week he has started biting me during breastfeeds! Since yesterday he's been doing it nearly every feed! I have tried a firm "No!" and taking him off/ending the feed, but most of the time he just laughs at me!
Does anyone have any tips on how I can get him to stop? It's so painful!

Thank you in advance!

I had this with my delightful lb. I found that taking him off, putting him safely on the floor and walking out of the room/ignoring him did the trick. It was all about getting a reaction. Not reacting and ignoring him made him really cross, but within a few days he stopped biting.

Isn't this just a WONDERFUL phase?!

Sarcasm, obviously. It fucking hurts like hell!

My son never bit, but my daughter thought it was hilarious. It should pass quickly, though. A very firm NO, instantly stop feeding, and put him down.

Apparently pushing their head into the boob works - their reflex makes them loosen jaws!

I'd then say oh you're biting, you must not be hungry here's a chew toy - if a sharp no doesn't work then you want to avoid anything they find funny, like showing you're hurt!

Thanks everyone. I will give those suggestions a try! Hopefully it's just a phase!

My best advice is watch your babies mouth. His latch will change when he's about to bite so you can quickly pop your little finger in the corner of his mouth to unlatch and prevent injury!

This or pushing his head gently into your boob can help.

They soon learn that biting=no milk. But it's a daunting phase to live through 😰

Also babies can go on 'nursing Strike' and stop wanting to breastfeed (don't worry it's short lived but can last a few days) if you react suddenly ie shouting no. So it's best to avoid tactics that upset.

Thanks @TapDanceJazzHands. He's had a nursing strike before when he was around 3 months old, which lasted a week and was very stressful! when I was trying to work out why, a breastfeeding consultant did ask me wether something had happened while he was feeding that scared him so I was conscious of not shouting out in pain/shock. Very hard to do as it bloody well hurts! Thankfully he hasn't done it for the last two days so I'm hoping he's over it!

Make sure you insist on a good latch (wide open mouth). Try a different position as well, partly to allow any bitemarks to heal (yes, DS did draw blood). He only really did it when teething and it wasn't a 'game' as such so I didn't think shouting or taking him off other than to reposition was appropriate

I can't help but yelp when my DD does it (she's 10 months and rarely does it now) and this makes her cry but also makes her stop - same when she pinches me too hard during a feed. Obviously I don't like making her cry but it has had an impact. We haven't had any issues with nursing strikes (I doubt anything would make her give up her beloved feeding!!)