Breastfeeding - how to stop him biting!

[LittleBlackCats]

Hi, my 13-month-old is biting me almost every time he feeds and I don't know how to stop him! He has 8 front teeth and 4 molars, and has been teething for the past couple of weeks. He feeds normally and then most times pulls off with a bite! It hurts and he has drawn blood quite a few times now. I don't want to stop breastfeeding but it's making feeding quite stressful.

I've tried saying 'no biting' and I'm currently making exaggerated ouch noises and a pained face. But heisn't showing any signs of unfetstanding he is hurting me.

Does anyone have any advice of anything else I can try?

Thank you

Hi LittleBlackCats did you manage to find any solutions to help stop the biting? My 16 month old has also started doing this and laughs and thinks it’s funny when I tell him “no biting” and when I say ouch!

I rant one of the helplines who suggested I try feeding lying down. It worked for me, only did it for a few days. Don't know it if works everything like though.

Hi there, sadly I haven't found a solution yet! I'm currently just keeping watch and trying to anticipate the bite, inserting my finger when I think it's about to come. So actually I find the lying down feeds a bit trickier, because it's harder to hover my finger. I'm keeping up with the ouching though, both when he bites me and if he has any bumps etc. And I praise him if he unlatches with no bite. Other than that its nipple cream and hope!

I tried lying down feeding too but didn’t help 😞
I keep trying to get him to understand it hurts but the more I say ouch, the more he laughs and bites. I completely forget about nipple cream for the pain, will have to go dig it out of the cupboard. Thanks!

Have you made it explicitly clear that he’s hurting you OP? I ask because I literally screamed and with a very, very firm voice said “NO!!!!!!! That HURTS” and removed breast. My then 8 month old’s eyes filled with tears and she looked truly terrified. The next couple of times I said “GENTLE” with a firm voice and amazingly she got it. It never happened again. Maybe I lucked out, but I just wanted to say the above. Good luck :)

I tried the 'no biting', saying 'ouch' and trying to relatch; however, the only thing that really worked was to take the nipple out of their mouth, boob away and put baby down. Even if for 30 seconds. Then, I would pick up and put back on the boob. The biting soon stopped as I think she learned biting meant the boob went away.

You're supposed to push them into the breast so they can't breathe. I used to poke mine I'm the cheek when he did it eventually I'd learned the ques he was going to do it and did a stern 'you dare'. He would do a little wiggle and carry on nursing.

Or a loud scream to shock them and put on the floor when they did it I've also seen advised.

Bananas52 I will try taking him off boob. How did you deal with milk going everywhere if in full flow?
gamerchick I’ll give that a go if taking him off doesn’t work.

@Inchysaurus around that age my milk didn't spray out during let down like the earlier days, so there would only be a couple of drops. I didn't mind too much if it got in my bra.
Hopefully this works for you, I completely understand your pain.

My milk didn't spray at that age either. Not that I noticed anyway.

Sympathies, OP, it hurts! My health visitor told me to stop breastfeeding and set my baby down when this happened. I was honestly amazed when this worked first time. I went on to breastfeed him till he was 3! Same thing happened with my second.

I used to push my baby's head into me making sure his nose was pressed against me. He had to open his mouth to breathe which unlatched him.

I'm going through the exact same with my 15 month old, every single feed she bites, sometimes a little bit and sometimes really clamps down and I scream and shout ow and usually cry and she still does it 😕 I've tried just calmly stopping the feed but she gets so upset

I spent every feed so upset clenching my teeth waiting for her to bite and tried to reduce feeds to avoid it happening

After 2 weeks, 3 molars have just come through at once and she's stopped biting so I'm hoping it was teething related, I've started feeding her to sleep again the past 2 nights and she feeds all night and I haven't had any biting yet

vegang I feel your pain!
I am keeping a breast pad ready if I need to take him off me so there is no crying over spilt milk 😆

Agree with @Bananas52 this stopped it quickly

My DS bit me hard once (I think he was about 8 months) and I really screamed because it was so unexpected. He burst out crying and it was awful. Never bit me again though (amd I fed him until he was 2.5).

@vegang it's made me cry at times too! And I know what you mean about it making feeding so tense - not how we want it to feel, right? Thanks everyone for the advice. I will try the taking him away from the boob for a period of time when he does it, see how we go. Also the pushing into the boob, which I've tried a bit, but not properly. Good luck those of you with other little nippers!

Hope you find something that works. Have you tried asking a BFC on one of the helplines?

I think it's natures way of saying it's time to stop once baby has teeth !

I think it's natures way of saying it's time to stop once baby has teeth

I was waiting for that cliche

In almost all cultures babies are BF to at least 2. I have no idea why our culture is obsessed with stopping once they have teeth.

Hi yes the NCT BFC suggested the ouching. I will persevere, don't want to stop feeding him yet :)