Hello mamas! My 7 month old son recently started biting me while feeding. He's had his two lower teeth for a few weeks but just started with the biting. He bites so hard my nipple bleeds and I screech in pain, scaring the daylights out of him. I really don't want to wean him to formula so I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how they coped with this? Thank you in advance!
you could try a nipple shield until he learns not to do that. I use one and it helps somewhat. Its very thin and if he gives you a good bite it still hurts. Every time my LO does it. I say NOOOO and he stops and looks at me then continues eating. It seems like he can tell by my facial expressions not to do that. But who knows if he actually gets what I'm saying.
I don't have experience with this but I read a good article about it. It basically said that at this age it's all about association. If you react dramatically (even though you can't help it) he will associate biting with getting attention. It said when they bite to immediately stop the feeding and wait a couple minutes to restart it. He'll associate the biting action with no food/comfort and quickly realize it isn't an action he wants to continue. That's just one opinion though. Good luck!
With my first daughter (who was an amazing breastfeeder), I pulled her off the breast, yelled "No," put her on the floor and walked away for a minute, disrupting the feeding. Then I went back and we tried again. She only bit me 2 times.
My second daughter is a terrible breastfeeder. We just hit 9 months by the grace of God. I'm nervous to disrupt her feeding for fear that it will cause later problems. I just read an article to push the baby's face into the breast for a second. It'll cause them to let go and startle them. By association, they should learn to stop biting. We'll see!
Re: Biting while breastfeeding
you could try a nipple shield until he learns not to do that. I use one and it helps somewhat. Its very thin and if he gives you a good bite it still hurts. Every time my LO does it. I say NOOOO and he stops and looks at me then continues eating. It seems like he can tell by my facial expressions not to do that. But who knows if he actually gets what I'm saying.
My second daughter is a terrible breastfeeder. We just hit 9 months by the grace of God. I'm nervous to disrupt her feeding for fear that it will cause later problems. I just read an article to push the baby's face into the breast for a second. It'll cause them to let go and startle them. By association, they should learn to stop biting. We'll see!