7 month old biter drawing blood- heeeeelp!

[BessieBoots]

Oh my dear lord.

My nipples are bleeding. He has two teeth on the bottom, and bites down hard towards the end of a feed. I've tried taking him off and saying "no!" sternly, and am awarded a lovely smile for my troubles!
REally want him to self-wean when he's ready, but I'm starting to dread the feeds now...

HI Bessie,
Does he start biting once he's finished eating and going on to comfortsucking? If so, i would start taking him off just before he gets to that stage. Do you put him down when you've told him no or do you keep hold of him. Try putting him down as well as the no!
Hope this helps!

Thanks Nuggets, I'll start putting him down. I've tried looking for signs that he's full to take him off then, but no luck thus far...
I have to wear breast pads because of the blood

Oh it's horrible this stage. Especially bracing yourself for it.

We had a couple of weeks of it around 10mo. DS thought it was hilarious when I said no/ put him on the floor so that was no good.

In the end, I had a teething ring to hand during feeds. If he was going to bite (could tell because latch would change and he'd look right at me) I'd stick my finger between his gums and say 'Don't bite mummy, bite this'. Took a couple of days but he got the idea.

Oooooh thanks hairymelons ( at name!)
That sounds like a plan. It's odd because him doing this has coincided with his first heavy cold...

Good idea hairymelons! I'm still wincing at the memories of my 'lovebites' I think i got to the point where i put DD down and walked away (so i could swear out of earsight... is that a word? )

Earsight! Fantastic word! Almost enough to distract me from the paaaaain....

I swore several times right within earsight. And pleaded with him not to bite. It's bloody horrible, hope it works!

Bessie, nearly forgot, are you taking painkillers? Also try ice or heat packs, whichever you find most soothing.

My toes are curling for you.

For both mine, I made a massive fuss, pulling out, shouting and stopping the feed. They got the message pretty fast. It does hurt like hell.

Ow ow ow. DS's bottom teeth weren't a problem (always covered by his tongue and I think it didn't occur to him to bite at that stage) but his top two wore little grooves in my nipples for a few weeks! Luckily, I don't think it got as bad as yours sound.

Could you ask a friendly HV or MW (or GP) for jellnet? It's a product that helps wounds heal fast because it keeps them moist, and lots of HCPs recommend it for nipple damage. You have to remove it before feeding though.

My DS used to think it was hysterical if I put him on the floor when he bit me, so that one doesn't always work.

Biters to tend to stop of their own accord, eventually. It's just a novelty, having new things in your mouth to play with. Sympathies, and I hope you find a solution.

I think I shrieked and shouted 'NO' very loudly and DD quickly got the message this was not good or funny - I immediately took her off and put her down. Her biting was very much linked to teething though. Luckily it only happened a couple of times.

again with mine a very loud no and put down feed stopped for at least 15 minutes and they got the message pretty quickly

My ds got two bottom teeth very quickly, he did the same thing as you're describing but only a few times though. Each time I completely ignored it, I thought if I reacted he would keep at it for attention. It worked and we have continued feeding no problem.

I remember once also I just took him off because of it but he had already had a good feed so I knew it wouldn't frustrate him.

Good luck,