Babies: 6 - 9 Months

Biting while nursing

My LO has started biting while nursing.  She doesn't have teeth yet, but I'm terrified for when they do come in!  It hurts bad enough with just the gums.  Usually, I will pull her off and sternly say No, to which she usually looks up at me, smiles, and goes back to nursing for a while before biting yet again.  This wasn't an issue until about a week ago.  Any tips?
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Re: Biting while nursing

  • The woman who runs the nursery at daycare recommended I tap her upper lip when DD bites (right under the nose).  That is what she did for her sons when she nursed them and they bit.  It has worked for me- just a few days of tapping her lip and saying "No!" and we had cut out the biting. I don't think it hurts, but I think they might be sensitive enough there it gets their attention.
  • imagemamafoxX2:
    The woman who runs the nursery at daycare recommended I tap her upper lip when DD bites (right under the nose).  That is what she did for her sons when she nursed them and they bit.  It has worked for me- just a few days of tapping her lip and saying "No!" and we had cut out the biting. I don't think it hurts, but I think they might be sensitive enough there it gets their attention.

    How hard do you tap?  Do you flick her or just tap with your finger?  She is a sensitive little girl, so I don't want to upset her too much, but this needs to stop! 

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  • When L tried biting me around the same age as your LO, I would say sternly "NO BITING", which would startle him off the breast, then I would pull up my bra and not nurse him for 5 minutes and not give him extra attention by playing with him.  Then we'd try again and repeat as necessary.  Eventually he seemed to understand that biting meant no more milk.

    The other thing to notice is when she is biting.  Is she just doing it at the end of nursing?  So could she be done and just playing around.  If so, then you may need to be stopping your sessions a little bit earlier (ahead of the biting time).  Or is she biting when you're not paying attention to her?  Sometimes around this age they start craving more attention when nursing since they are spending more time away from you playing and exploring.  So biting gets your attention and that's what they want (for some kiddos).

    Oh yeah, if she won't let go, you can push her into your breast a little bit, and usually they get overwhelmed and unlatch. 

    I hope that might help. 

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  • My pedi recommended tapping her on the nose.  He said you couldn't actually hurt the baby if you just tapped with one finger, so to do it pretty hard.  I never used what I would consider a hard tap, but I did give her a little bop, along with a stern "No biting!" and it only took twice.  She's never bitten me while nursing since then.
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  • My son did this at around 4-5 months. I would sternly tell him "no" and not let him nurse for a couple of minutes. It didn't take long for him to figure it out. It also seemed to help to assist him with a proper latch like when we were first learning to nurse.

    I'm not sure about the nose tap thing, it's a kid not a dog. Huh?

    Good luck

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  • Thanks for the tips!  Feeding time is in an hour, so we'll see how it goes.  Wish me luck!
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