We have a slight situation here at Casa de Mommy Story. You already know Mira has teeth. Two sharp bottom ones, to be specific. She’s chewing on anything she can with those two new teeth. Including me.
I’ve been trying to use the advice people have given me. When she bites me while nursing, I yelp, hoping to startle her and make sure she doesn’t do it again. It’s a good theory, and it worked the first time, but now my screams of pain are countered with laughter. She thinks it’s funny. Not sure who she got that sense of humor from.
I also tried putting her down and stopping the feeding session when she bites. She gets mad and screams her head off, as expected, but it doesn’t seem to do much to discourage her from biting.
Another bit of advice was to push her head into my breast when she bites, making her unable to breathe and then she’ll let go and associate biting with an unpleasant experience. However, Mira is a bite-and-release girl, so it’s hard to catch her in the act. By the time I feel the bite, the damage is already done and she’s pulled off, smiling at me. (I told you she had a sick sense of humor.)
I even tried buying a nipple shield to give me a thin layer of silicone between us, but she refuses to nurse with it. Re-fus-es. Completely. Like it’s some kind of abomination of the natural order and using it would be akin to admitting there is no God.
We’ve come to a breaking point, though. Yesterday Fang (my new nickname for her) bit me hard enough to draw blood. I have three small gashes on my right nipple and one on my left. I tried to nurse her again overnight, and she bit me hard enough that I worried she bit through my nipple. (I checked, and she didn’t – but at 2am when you’re half-asleep, you jump to those conclusions from the pain.) I’m too sore to nurse on one side, and also too sore to pump.
To all of my hardcore lactation readers out there – I want to know how you survived biting? What did you do to discourage it? If we can’t stop this, I think weaning is in the near future. I don’t want to wean – bottles and formula are such a pain, plus formula is expensive. And when she’s not biting, I like having the ability to breastfeed her. But I can’t let her turn my nipples into hamburger.
Any advice is appreciated.
(And it’s not like Fang has a lack of teething toys. Anything is a teething toy to her.)
Oh babe. Sorry. I never had the serial biters. Once or twice and they cried if I yelled at them.
In fact, Corinne weaned herself because I scared her so badly when she bit me one day…
Good luck.
Ouch. Yikes.
Dawson weaned himself before he got any teeth, so I’ve never experienced this, but my friend did quite often.
She once told me that she used to say “No!” loud enough to startle her daughter and then paused from nursing for a few minutes.
She said she felt awful about it, but it worked for her.
I suppose it’s a trial and error process! I hope it stops soon. It sounds painful just reading abougt it.
This happened with my first — he got teeth at 3 months! I pretty much followed the advice kathryn gave you — said “No Biting” sternly and tried again and stopped the nursing session if he did it again. He learned quickly, but it was a rough week or so until he did. I actually kept nursing him until he was 1 after that, so it does get better.
I am not looking forward to when my little guy gets his top teeth and I have to go through it all again.
The way he is drooling and chewing on his fingers it seems like it will be soon.
Argh. The biting…and the laughing as you try to reattach your nipple. Ouch.
Get yourself some “soothies”- a glycerin gel pad that you can put on the nipple to help it heal (and it also feels so, so good on sore nipples). Nipples heal themselves quickly so if you can muster even a quick 5 minute pump on that side to keep telling that breast to make milk, do it. Or try hand expressing some milk if you can’t stand to pump.
You are doing the right thing by telling her no, taking her off when she does it, etc. You may need to jsut let her cry and scream in protest. Check out these tips from kellymom
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/older-baby/biting.html
Good luck! And this too shall pass- don’t wean! You are doing so well!
Cara
I feel so bad for you. I never had that problem my son didn’t get teeth until he was a year. That is a very cute photo of her 🙂
Ouch. You poor thing. I tried the yell/stop the nursing thing, but my daughter was too young to understand cause and effect. I’ve known older babies who bit because they loved to hear mom yell – they don’t know you’re in pain, they just know that when they bite they get to hear a funny noise.
What did work was to pull my daughter sharply to the breast as soon as she started to bite. It became instinctive – when I felt her tongue move back to uncover her teeth, I jerked my arm cradling her head. It forced her mouth open before she could do damage. Counter-intuitive but effective. She quickly gave up biting and went on to nurse, well, approximately forever.
Numbing Mira’s gums before nursing might help. Also stopping the nursing when she starts to slack off – you can put her back on the breast if she seems to be hungry still but don’t give her a chance to get bored. I’m wondering too if her suck is a little off. If she’s able to bite you without warning, that means her tongue isn’t covering her bottom teeth like it should.
Good luck
Ouch!!!What a pain (literally) My eldest daughter was not a biter so I was a little surprised when my younger daughter started biting me while nursing. I had luck with the strategy of stopping nursing whenever she bit. I had to be consistent…and it took 2 or 3 days for it to sink in…but the crying was better than biting. And it did work. I continued to nurse her for another 6mos.
Good luck!!
Bless youre heart! Ouch! I feel your pain. Her picture is just too adorable for words. My 13 month old has occasionally snagged me with his wonderful 8 teeth and it hurts like the dickens! I usually yelp and then pull him off. I have a friend who said she thumped her daughter right in the middle of the forehead (gently) once when her daughter bit her and it cured her…
I don’t know. I wish you the best of luck though!!! Lansinoh really does help, even now!
I thumped my kids when they bit, just hard enough to get their attention. It did the trick with mine. You hate to hurt them, but they need to learn that you aren’t screaming for their enjoyment.
Sympathetic, empathetic OUCH! Gosh, I had long-forgotten those days, thanks for reminding me, lol.
Actually, I had to comment just to say that might be one of the funniest, perhaps most provocative blog titles I’ve ever read (I wonder what your google hits will look like now!).
Feeling your pain, no real good remedies to offer, but I was curious how old she is…can she go straight to a cup?
Love that pic…adorable!
No advice, sorry, but lots of sympathy. I guess that doesn’t do you much good, eh?
Sounds not too good. I had my baby bite my nipple too, it then is sore. Just coax your baby, that’s what I did with Penny Lane, my daughter. She is now in college but I still remember that!
Luv yu Penny Lane!
———–
Miranda Jones, Parenting Staff
My son did that when he was 9 months old. I had to stop breastfeeding for a few days because I was so sore. He would also draw blood. But what did work for him was when he would bite, I would flick him on the cheek and stop feeding him. It didn’t take long after that.
Good luck!
Here’s something for you:
Biting Link
I hope that she stops soon; I would hate for you to have to wean her because she won’t stop biting.
Oh man! I feel your pain. Literally. All of my boys tried that when they were babies. They thought it was funny when I screamed too.
What I did was NOT scream (somehow) and then very sternly said,”No biting!” and then tried to nurse again. If they did it again then I would put them down on the floor and ignore them for a while. Then I would pick them up and try to nurse again. If they bit again I would just give up the nursing session and do it again later. They got the idea very quickly.
I was told that if they start nibbling they are not really hungry at that point anyway.
Good luck!
Ow, Christina! That is really a bummer – I am sorry she’s enjoying the biting so much. I have no further advice to offer, as neither of mine bit very many times, and were heartbroken when I yelled in pain. I hope that something works for you soon – I can certainly imagine wanting to wean if that biting – and the baby’s enjoyment of the ensuing motherly yelps – kept up. All good wishes!
Oh I feel for you. I wasn’t able to breastfeed long enough for Squeaks to get teeth, but from the beginning, my nipple got so bad that it almost fell off. I had to quit nursing that side completely. So although I have no advice for you, I know the utter pain (mine shot up through my back), so I hope you get relief soon.
PS: my sister said she thumped her son on the nose any time he bit her with nursing. He only did it twice after that.
Aww, poor you and poor her!
I have actually heard before that making too big of a deal out of it actually reinforces it b/c it’s “interesting” to them that they get such a reaction. (like the yelp)
I didn’t have this issue because we were forced to stop bf’ing due to Braden’s medical issues, but friends of mine who’ve had this happen said that they would have to stop feeding immediately, firmly say something like, “no biting” (but not all theatrical, or you’ll get the same effect as the yelp), put baby down safely (like in crib or similar situation), and walk away briefly.
Of course, baby will cry horribly. I’d give it a specific time (whatever you think the both of you can stand without hysterica on either of your parts)… then go back and continue feeding, without making an issue of it.
Eventually, she should get the message. But, like any learning trial (can you hear my psych degrees talking here?) you MUST be consistent for a good deal of time and NOT GIVE UP because you don’t see the results right away.
(Which will be HARD as your nipple is hanging from one fleshy thread. Ouch! So sorry!)
Hang in there.
Sorry for publishing a blog in your comments. 😉
yes, do treat yourself to a pair of Soothies, or two. And, keep them in the fridge. The coolness really does feel good. The only thing that worked for us was the “No biting” and stopping for a few minutes. Then, I’d pick him up and try again, if he bit again, down he’d go. It took a few days, maybe a week, but he did learn not to bite. I bf’d till 14 months. Hope you can get through it. Not sure where you are in Ohio, but I sell them, and could ship in a day or two. http://ournaturalbaby.com/catalog.php?item=104&catid=8&ret=catalog.php%3Fcategory%3D8
It’s funny (well not funny haha, but funny weird) that you should post this as my Mom was just teasing me the other day about how much of a biter I was. She too thought several times that I had bit off her nipple. WHen I asked her how she got me to stop she said she’d blow on my face, startling me every time I did it. SHe also said it didn’t take long for me to get a clue.
So that’s my advice to you. I hope Mira stops.. I can’t imagine how much that’s gotta hurt. Ouchie!
Hey, whatever happened with the wandering garbage can? Ug was asking me the other day.
Oh I feel your pain. What I did was hover and keep a finger right there beside his mouth and pay *really* close attention. He would only decide to bite after the initial hunger pangs abated. I could feel him start to prepare to bite (tongue moved, a shift in the mouth), and then I’d quickly jam my finger in there, break suction and get the nipple out before he’d get a chance to bite it. And then tell him firmly “No biting”, without making a big deal out of it. Wait a minute, and then resume nursing. I was only bitten 3 times in total before he figured out that Mommy wasn’t going to let him do that, so he might as well give up.
Good luck.
My second one was a biter. It got to the point where I was sitting at the edge of the couch, poised to disengage the nipple if I felt even a whisper of teeth.
The only thing I can suggest is to NOT show a reaction. My son thought it was just hilarious when I yelped or jumped.
If I didn’t do anything — very difficult — he would resume nursing with incident. If I shrieked, he would do it again, either during that nursing or the next.
Good luck. I hated that phase.
The only thing that worked for me was the pushing-into-my-breast thing. Sorry I don’t have any other advice, but you have my sympathy. Lots of it.
I love it. Fang thats great!
i hope this resolves itself, will never bit, but ben is 8 wks old tomorrow and is killing me-he has the hardest suck i have ever encountered! if he starts biting all bets are off, i can only take so much, wishing you luck!
she’s adorable though!
Like Tracey, my boy bit me several times but over the course of months. Sending you big sympathy!
Bee bit for a little while, once hard enough to draw blood. But, like everything else, it passes. Hope it does very quickly for you.
I don’t know which is funnier: the post title or that awesome pic of Mira! I’m sorry Fang is making meat out of you, but at least it makes for humorous posts. : )
I myself have a no bleeding policy for my nipples. But then I’m already on formula, so I’m no help to you.
Haha, aww that’s a cute photo!
My son’s teeth started coming out when he was around 3 months old, but it was when he was about 7 months old that he discovered that biting my nipple would make me shriek in agony… and oh he thought it was funny.
Luckily, he wasn’t too bad about it, he’d bite every now and again, but I’m pretty sure he got the gist that if he bites, he gets no nipple, lol.
I did all of the things mentioned here – the “no biting”, pinching the nose, putting him down and trying to look very very sad. But I finally realized way too late, that he was trying to tell me that side was “empty”. He was trying to tell me he wanted to switch sides.
My daughter had the same humor and does a lot of the things you described and I’ve been so afraid that she actually could but my nipple off especially because she has 4 to teeth coming in as well as the 2 bottom that she already has