What happens when they get teeth?

jaymiegerard · January 2012

For those of you nursing babies with teeth - how does it change breastfeeding? Do they bite? How do you stop them, if so?

DS sometimes bites down without teeth and it hurts... He's teething now and I just got myself a little worried!

Thanks!

mommyandwife2011 · January 2012

DS got his first tooth at about 4 months,now he has 8-he use to bite. I'd say he bit me maybe a total of 10 times,yes it hurts but its not excruciating but when he did i would flick his little cheek,pull him off and firmly say "no bite!" and he'd giggle and go right back to eating. he hasn't bit me in about 2 months. GL!

cros8380 · January 2012

When LO first got teeth, she bit me a few times. I would say "ouch", "No biting" and hold off nursing for a minute or two. She would whine a little until I started nursing again, but I only had to do that a few times. Also, when she was getting teeth, I could tell when she was going to stop sucking and might bite me. She would move her tongue out of the way. It was a good way for me to know what was coming!

PepperStick · January 2012

My DD never bit me. I nursed her to a year (and four teeth).

tokenhoser · January 2012

DS only bites me if I try to force him to nurse when he's not hungry, or a few times we've sort of fallen asleep nursing and he's bit me. I don't think that was on purpose, and it's never been that bad (no blood or anything).

If you do get bit, the easiest way to get the baby off fast is to mush the face into the boob - they let go and pull back to breathe. Then end the nursing session (but start again in a few minutes if baby acts hungry again).

It's one of those things that is worse in your head than in real life. You could go months nursing with teeth and never have a problem.