Biting and drawing blood

[carlymarx]

What is the best approach for my little vampire?

Last night I fed my DD (8 months). She was a bit unsettled and was grabbing my breast in her hands and latching on and off. Then she started biting. I started shouting because, it may come as no suprise to you to hear, it hurt rather a lot. I unlatched (delatched?) her and then looked at her and said no a couple of times in my sternest voice. DD smiled at me. When I looked at my nipple it was bleeding so she had obviously broken the skin with one of her two teeth.

I just wondered what the best way of dealing with this is? I am now quite on edge when I'm feeding her, with my finger at the ready to break the seal should she try biting again.

I'm due to return to work from mat leave in about a month, and am wondering if I should just wean her to formula? Whilst the thought of this makes me feel sad, I'm also keen to avoid more bloodspill!

Any words of wisdom?

I was only bitten twice when BF but both times I screamed really loud (involuntarily) and DD unlatched in shock and cried. After that she didn't do it again. Can you scream or squeal or make some unpleasant noise so she is shocked? Good luck going back to work.

Thanks for the reply bonzo. Shouting, as you say, is a pretty inevitable reatction. Was a bit worried that DD smiled at me rather than crying though. If she thinks me shrieking is funny it is not much of a deterrant. Do you think I should stop feeding her if she does it, or latch her on again so she can finish the feed?

If she bites you unlatch, put her down, walk away. (yes, even if it's a night time feed!)

Could she be teething or had she just had a long feed? If she is teething then she will be in a catch 22 where she wants to nurse for comfort, but her mouth is sore and sucking can make it throb. If she had just had a big feed it may be that the milk was not flowing as fast as she wanted and she was getting frustrated. When you feed her, if she starts to get unsettled and grab at you take her off and swap sides. If she settles and feeds well then she was frustrated with having to work hard to extract milk. If she doesn't settle it's probably more teeth.

What ever the reason she is doing it, the unlatch, put her down, walk away response should sort it out.

Don't wean, you don't sound ready to, it's lovely to come home and sit and have a feed together, and she'll need the immune support when she's in nursery too. (just thinking, is she having regular bottles? If she is, she may be getting used to the faster flow, and this could make her frustrated by the slower flow at the end of a feed from you)

Thanks Greenmonkies, it was near the end of a feed, so will try changing sides next time she starts grabbing. DD is exclusively BF at the moment, but I've always had v fast flow so could imagine her feeling frustrated if the milk was coming slowly.

Interesting what you say about feeding when coming home from work - that does sound nice. I had been wondering about a bottle of formula at nusery during the day (I hate expressing), and breast milk morning and evening. Is this feasible? And will my breasts be like balloons by hometime? I am rather prone to over production and leakiness.

If you introduce a bottle of formula then your supply will adjust very quickly. If you go for ebm, (the expressing break can be quite welcome when you are at work), then this would help with leakage and engorgement.

Where will she be whilst you are at work? If she is close by you can take your break to nurse her rather than express. I used to express twice a day (morning and afternoon) and feed them at lunchtime as mine were in an onsite nursery, and it was nice not to have to go a full day without contact for the first few months back at work.

You will also be able to keep her exclusively fed at the weekends too, you won't have to use bottles in the day time on Saturdays and Sundays, unless you want/need to, your supply will be very flexible by this time and you'll be amazed what you can do now!

One other reason not to wean; imagine trying to settle her at night if she wakes due to teething or a cold, and not being able to just boob her back to sleep.... yikes!! Not a happy thought!!