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Infant feeding

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

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Original poster

need to stop breast feeding if this continues. HELP!

16 replies

6inchnipples · 24/08/2009 00:09

my dd2 is 11mnths, has 2 teeth at bottom and is biting me most feeds, including during the night when she can feed on and off the whole night. this is torture,

its so hard to cope with being biten when im half asleep and sleep deprived.

i have tried stoping the feed, being stern, roaring at her, even giving her a little pinch, nothing is working.

think this is my last baby too and i really wanted to feed as long as poss, but this biting is making feeds something to dread, i feel anxious the whole feed incase she bites.

help!

OP posts:

Original poster

6inchnipples · 24/08/2009 07:35

Anyone please??

OP posts:

3cutedarlings · 24/08/2009 07:46

sorry no real advice just lots of sympathy.

Have you tried putting staight down (on the floor) and basicly ending the feed once she bites?

Is she teething?, possibly a silly question as iirc teething is none stop at this age. You could try putting some teething gel on before you feed her.

LoveBeingAMummy · 24/08/2009 07:48

SOrry didn't have teeth when i bf put didn't stop her frm clamping down occassionaly, I used to stop the feed and put her down and bascially appear to ignore her , seemed to work

Original poster

6inchnipples · 24/08/2009 07:58

Thanks for replies.

I have tried immediately puting her down on floor when it happens during day but she often just laughs and crawls away, only if she is sleepy will it upset her.

Not sure about trying this during the night in a pitch black room. She def would scream the place down and probably wake the other 2. Thing is she is half asleep when she does it, usually as she comes off the breast too, bloody agony tho and very frustrating.

She is teething i'm sure but goes mad if i try to give her enything for it as not keen on taking anything she not in control of (bloody BLW) actually have to give her paracetamol suppositories if i need to give her something.

Feels like the end of the road

So sleep deprived as she feeding constantly thru night.Doesn't help.

OP posts:

BertieBotts · 24/08/2009 09:04

Laughing and crawling away doesn't mean she is being defiant or anything though - it's not a punishment, it's just a signal to her "If you bite, you can't have any more".

Have you tried nipple shields?

Original poster

6inchnipples · 24/08/2009 09:13

laughing and crawling away signals to me that she not too bothered about the feed coming to an end.

Haven't tried nipple shield but will consider it. I think she would rip them off to get to the nipple! If i try to cuddle her in with out feeding to settle her she can wrestle her way up my jumper in a flash! She isn't the placid easy going sort, more determined and spirited.

OP posts:

theyoungvisiter · 24/08/2009 09:24

"By 6inchnipples on Mon 24-Aug-09 09:13:46
laughing and crawling away signals to me that she not too bothered about the feed coming to an end."

I think you may have hit the nail on the head - is she mainly biting towards the end of the feed when bored/playing?

I found with my DS that when he was really hungry he would mostly feed properly, it was when he was not so hungry that he'd start to clamp.

I would also say that other than stopping the feed, try not to react at all - they can start to think it's a game and try to provoke the reaction because a yelp/scream/scolding is exciting to them.

At night I would simply stop the feed and turn my back (if you are co-sleeping) so that she can't access the breast again until you say.

And it definitely is connected teething (in the case of my babies anyway) and it DOES pass. It's hard while it's going on but it shouldn't last that long.

leothelioness · 24/08/2009 09:41

I feel you pain 6inch nipples I bf my ds until he was 2 and he went through a stage of biting an I would just detach him and turn over if it was during the night or put him down during the day, with a stern "NO that hurts mummy" I hope it work for you too.

dinkystinky · 24/08/2009 09:48

If she is teething try putting teething gel on her gums before feeding her - seemed to help with DS1. Otherwise, just stop the feed. They soon get the idea.

fishie · 24/08/2009 09:50

oh yes ouch. it is a short but very unpleasant phase. there is some stuff on [http://www.kellymom.com/bf/older-baby/biting.html kellymom]]

i found anticipating it and stopping feed worked best, quickly sticking little finger in corner of his mouth.

slushy06 · 24/08/2009 10:09

my ds went through a faze of biting as he was dropping off or coming off the boob. I solved it by watching for the signal that he was going to bite and taking it away he would then fall asleep I did this for about two weeks and he stopped.

With him it was more as he fell asleep he unknowingly clamped his mouth shut with my nipple still in there have you tried looking for when she is going to bite and taking it away before she can.

merrymonsters · 24/08/2009 10:22

My DD went through a phase of grinding her teeth on me when she was getting 5 teeth at once at about 9 months old. I think it's a teething thing, but it was very unpleasant. I also thought about stopping. She also did it when she was just about to fall asleep on the breast. I found I could usually take her off when I saw that she was about to go to sleep.

The biting phase stopped when her teeth were through and I'm still feeding her at 20 months.

sweetkitty · 24/08/2009 10:36

Same here chopping down on nipple at end of feed, I would unlatch her and that would be it feed finished, most of the time she didn't bother.

We night weaned at 12 months as I was at the end of my tether too, basically first night when she woke (in her cot in her own room before that we were cosleeping and feeding through the night) DP went to her shhed her, patted her, first night she went back to sleep after about 30 mins, second night 5 mins now at 13 months she sleeps through the night.

Original poster

6inchnipples · 24/08/2009 13:34

Thanks for replies everyone.

sweetkitty i live in hope that my dd will do the same as yours, sounds like a beautiful dream. Can i ask how you got her into the cot at the beginning of night. My dd opens her eyes the min she feels her back hitting the cot mattress and immediately gets back up and squeels. Infact when she bites me during night (we co sleep) i do often turn my back on her but she climbs over me and starts to wrestle for my boob again, she is very mobile and determined (so were the other 2 .. is it me?? )

And when you say you night weaned, did you then continue to feed during day? When i night weaned dd1 she very quickly stopped feeding during the day. I think this was because she was too nosey during the day and also associated being fed with sleeping. She walked at 9 months and could just about hold a conversation soon after, little miss independant. I really hoped dd2 would feed for longer as probably last baby too, ds has just started school and he'd still be feeding if he'd half a chance!

OP posts:

sweetkitty · 24/08/2009 14:22

6inch - I thought we were in for the long haul too, it all depends whether you want to still cosleep or not, I wanted to but I felt like we had come to the end of it, she was so fidgety she was waking me up and I suspect I was waking her up too. We had a bedside cot so I would take her up give her her last feed then move her into the cot, when she woke there was only one thing she wanted boob, but she was only sucking for a minute then falling back asleep. We put her to bed when she was shattered and if she woke going into the cot she would be so tired that she would soon go to sleep.

DD2 was the exact same, I night weaned her the same way at 12 months too.

I continued with 2 feeds a day dropped the morning one a few weeks later then last week I was out at night and DP put her to bed and she went straight to sleep, the next night she was so tired she fell asleep on DP and got carried up, after 2 nights I thought well theres no point feeding her again so that was that, very emotional though. Last night she went to bed, not even a cry and fell straight asleep, 7.50pm to 7.30am that would have been an impossible dream 6 weeks ago.

Only you can decide what you want to do, I was at the point my sleep was getting so affected with the constant feeding in the night, I knew it was just for comfort too. I had to do something about it, I don't believe in CC so thats why DP never left her alone to cry it's just there was no boob and I think once they realise wait no boob they think theres no point in getting up.

I feel your pain on the independent madam thing I have 3

TAFKAtheUrbanDryad · 24/08/2009 14:26

This is going to sound really harsh, but I used to sort of "smoosh" ds' face into my breast when he bit. It's hard because it's not the instinctive reaction (to pull away) but it taught him that biting didn't get a fun reaction from me, and he soon stopped. Putting Calgel on before a feed if he was teething seemed to help as well.

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