Biting while latching - help!

[gimmesugar]

Hi! I don't have personal experience with this because DS is only 3 months old, but here is some info from Kellymom about biting: kellymom.com/ages/older-infant/biting/

The suggestion for biting at the beginning of a nursing session is to give him a teething toy or something cold to chew on prior to nursing.

Hopefully others with personal experience can chime in as well!

[fuzzylogic]

Is he super-hungry or eager to nurse? When E was younger but had gotten some teeth, if she was really anxious to nurse, she would come at me teeth first. I had to slow her down. Over time, she learned how to nurse without biting me.

[lily]

I find it helpful to figure out why baby is biting.

Gums hurt? Try a cold rag or frozen teether for a couple minutes before nursing. Or rub on his gums with your finger just prior to latching.

Frustrated with slow let down? Try breast compressions to speed milk flow.

Likes your big reaction when he bites? Calmly put him down away from you and try again in a few minutes.

Bored and distracted? Try a necklace or toy for him to play with, or tie a ribbon to your bra strap for him to fiddle with, or sing to him. Singing helped me most with initial latch distraction/difficulty - I made up a song that basically went "just keep nursing; milk is coming" to keep DS at the breast but not nibbling.

You may have to really work with his latch like he's a newborn. It's hard with a wiggly almost 1 year old, but you want his head tilted back & mouth open really wide, fill his mouth with breast and roll your nipple in last. If his mouth is held wide open full of breast, he can't bite down on your nipple without pulling back, and pulling back gives you enough time - if you're paying close attention - to slip your finger in the corner of his mouth, break suction, and remove breast. You may find luck with talking him through this and showing him your mouth open really really wide for him to mimic.

You can try "ouch! Biting hurts Mommy (or biting hurts whatever he calls nursing)! If you bite, we can't nurse (you can't have milkies)" and if he bites twice then putting him out of your lap & covering up. Let him try again in a minute. This technique is hard sometimes at this age because their attention span is short & you may miss the feeding entirely, which is not the goal; if so you might want to modify.

Good luck! A little consistency and a lot of attention will hopefully get you through this phase quickly.

[loony]

I just put them down, no emotion, no reaction. (Which is fucking hard when it hurts).

I've found that it's more common when teeth are coming in at that age. It feels good to chew.

I put them down and literally walk away. Both kids got it pretty quickly and once the next set of teeth came, they knew it wasn't going to happen.