Dd is nearly 15 mo and tends to get bitey on the breast when she is teething. Earlier this week, I accidentally poked her in the eye in my haste to de-latch her - she freaked out, and since then she is filled with deep ambivalence about the breast. She wants it, but will only latch on to bite me again! Last thing at night and first thing in the morning, when she would normally be nursing, she gets almost hysterical. She wants me to pick her up, then she wants bf, but as soon as I put her in the position or put her to the breast, she either bites me or turns away and starts to cry and actually scream. Then she works herself into a frenzy and is inconsolable. She hasn't had a bf since Wednesday.
She had another nursing strike last November (after I involuntarily shouted when she bit me), which lasted 5 days before I managed to coax her back onto the breast. This time around, I'm finding it hard to know what to do. I know that for her to eventually get over this and go back to bf, I have to keep offering it to her - but it upsets her so much, and it is so hard to calm her down and takes so long (90 minutes last night and again at 4 o'clock this morning), that it is tempting just to not bother offering. Also, if she is going to go through this biting phase every time she cuts new teeth, and possibly more nursing strikes if I accidentally scare her again with my response to the biting, then the prospect of continuing to bf suddenly starts to seem a lot less appealing! (we have 8 teeth left to go!)
OTOH, it seems a shame to have it all end on such an unpleasant note. It would be nicer to stop more gently and gradually. I am just feeling (unjustly) irritated by the screaming and the biting. I know I should have more compassion toward my poor traumatised dd.