Biting!

[flashy09]

Two bottom teeth emerged last week and omg the pain! My baby has started clamping down and it feels like someone is trying to cut my nipple off! My areola are covered in red marks and streaks from her. I am so tense during nursing and starting to dread it and sweat my way through it. She does it when the let down takes too long, at the end when she wants more, and sometimes just for the heck of it.

I think it's related to teething as she bites and pulls at bottle nipples as well. Probably teaching her bad habits as the bottle doesn't react, but I am so sore that I give her one or two pumped bottles every day lately.

On a bottle related side note, if the biting is a frustration thing and not teething, should I start using a higher flow nipple? I have been using Level 1 (just forgot to ever change it) and she does bite and play with it so I am thinking of moving up to level 2 or 3 (level 3 is 6 months, which she is) and giving her a faster flow, but is that going to just make her more annoyed with the breast?

I am seriously considering pumping exclusively at this point. Is that feasible or would my supply dwindle too much?

When she bites, I don't react enough for her to notice. Should I be louder? Unlatch her? Push her closer to the breast?

Her teeth have pushed through so is there a chance the discomfort will lessen and she will stop wanting to clamp down so much?

She has lots of teething toys to fulfill her chewing/pressure needs on things other than me.

[marymoo86]

Don't react as that could trigger a nursing strike.

I would remove her and let her know "biting hurts mama" so she knows what she is doing is wrong. Good info on kellymom

[rin]

Advice from my mother (who nursed 4 children through toddlerhood); press her face into your breast so she can't breathe. She'll unlatch quickly. If that doesn't work, say "no" and then flick her nose; it'll startle her into unlatching. Obviously you're not trying to cause pain, just startle her, by flicking her nose, so don't do it hard! She'll pretty quickly learn that when she bites and you say "no", you'll next flick her nose, and she'll stop doing it. DD went through a biting phase, and a combination of these two things ended it pretty quickly (within a few days).

At that age I don't think there's any way they can comprehend that something hurts someone else, so giving them an immediate cause-and-effect relationship is the only way you'll be able to effectively teach her not to do that. An older kid might get that biting is wrong/hurts mama/etc, but I think it's unrealistic to hope that a 5-6 month old baby could understand something that abstract, and expecting her to learn that is just setting her (and you) up for failure.

ETA: Forgot to mention; with both the suggestions above, obviously then stop nursing for a few minutes so that they learn that biting will trigger a whole series of things they don't like, culminating in no milk for a few minutes.

[daisymommy]

Typing on phone so this will be quick:
Yes to pulling her nose into your breast so she opens mouth and unlatches.

Yes to being loud and firm and saying "no! Ouch!" then stopping nursing session for several minutes. It's amazing how fast they learn and will stop doing it. My babies stopped after maybe 2 more times max.

But also be aware she is probably getting used to the faster easier to get flow of a bottle, and is jerking at your nipple to make the milk come out faster. In a way, babies get lazy once they grow used to bottles and want the milk to just flow without any work on their part. So I wouldnt go up a size on bottle nipples or that will make it worse.

Was she pulling on your nipples before teeth? If so, It could also be that she is trying to increase your supply. We call this "priming the pump".

Good luck!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[flashy09]

She did not bite once yesterday for the first time in two weeks so I am crossing my fingers that it was related to teething discomfort!

Update: back to biting. Seems to be mostly at the end of the feed. Bites so hard and doesn't let go even when I do react. Clamps down like a pit bull! Would a nipple shield help?