Breastfeeding advice after my baby bit and injured my nipple

[Jellybunny98]

I could really do with some advice, I can’t be the first person this has happened to but it’s a first for me!

I’m currently breastfeeding my second baby, he’s 9 months old and we’ve had a pretty smooth time of it all so far, until today! He has already got his front 8 teeth, 4 top & 4 bottom and while feeding this afternoon he has bitten down hard on the nipple and really hurt me, the skin has actually tore and bled quite a lot! I’ve looked up the advice on keeping that clean & keeping an eye for infection etc but I thought it was just a random thing, has never happened before and my first baby was also breastfed to nearly 18 months and never bit me like this so I had just assumed it would be a one time thing.

How wrong I was and he has been having his next feed on my other side tonight and tried to bite down again!

I’m really not sure what to do here if he keeps trying to bite me? Has anyone been through this? Are there any secret tips? Is my son part vampire?😂

I stopped feeding mine around this age when teeth came in, I ended up with a really nasty infection on one side from a bite. I tried expressing for a while but ended up going dry.

Both of mine went through this stage at about the same age and one time it led to me being hospitalised with mastitis that was threatening to lead to sepsis 🤦
As soon as they get distracted or pull back or change suckling pattern unlatch them. I used to keep my fingers primed either side of the nip for a quick unlatch. And that would be the end of that feed. Otherwise they finished with a bite and it fucking hurt.

My second was a real biter, towards the end of a feed he would suddenly just decide he was done and clamp his teeth shut hard! I could generally get my little finger in his mouth at the side just in time to stop him closing his mouth but it took a few times before I learnt to do this.

Just to add, they did stop it again. I fed to about 19 months.

Thanks all! The issue is I can’t yet see any predicting when he is going to bite to stop him in time really, he has been sort of touching teeth to boob while feeding for awhile now but never actually biting which is totally fine but the first bite was totally random although was near the end of what I expected his feed to be so maybe he was (very rudely) telling me he was done, but this second bite was really only about 1 min ish into feeding so he wouldn’t have been done yet I don’t think. We have tried giving expressed milk in a bottle quite a few times over the last few months with no success so I’m going to have to keep him on the boob for now but I’m worried the next bite could be as bad as the first one!

My DS is 16 months and will occasionally bite, he went through a phase where it was really bad but essentially I always unlatch him, say no, and stop the feed. Then he will wail for a couple of minutes, then I’ll relent and put him back on 😂 but that seems to help and it’s nowhere near as frequent as it was.

It’s also worth looking out of any signs you notice that they might be going to bite. For us I will notice his latch shift, and he will stop actively feeding, and sometimes he’ll look at me out of the corner of his eye ready to see my reaction. So if I notice that happening I’ll swap sides or end the feed.

For us the trigger seems to be milk flow slowing at the end of a feed, I think he gets frustrated. It’s worse around the time my period is due, and I think my supply must dip a bit. There’s some advice on here that I’ve found helpful: https://laleche.org.uk/help-baby-bit/

Hope you get to the bottom of what is causing it!

My first did it, the first time it happened I shrieked and he laughed and thought it was a game. The advice I had at the time was to unlatch and put him down with no reaction.

I was told to push the baby's face hardish against my boob when they did this. I think it worked, but I stopped feeding soon after!

Im afraid I weaned her at that point (around 13 minths iirc). She would get way too interested in what was going on behind her so used her teeth to keep a hold of my boob while she swung her head round to have a look 😵😵‍💫 😭

Mine went through this phase but never actually injured me. I used to shout ‘ow!’ loudly and end the feed immediately (I wasn’t actually capable of giving no reaction, whatever the advice may be!) But as he generally did it when he was just about finished this was no hardship really. He did stop as I carried on feeding for another 8/9 months. I can’t remember what I did which was successful I’m afraid.

I think it can be related to teething so some people have luck with putting numbing gel or that powder on baby’s gums before feeding.

My friend reacted so strongly/loudly the first time her baby (toddler really) did this, the toddler literally never breastfed again!! She was about 18m by this point though.