Biting while nursing

[hjffkj]

My 11 month old keeps biting me while he nurses. With previous kids I have simply stopped nursing told them no and they quickly learn that when they bite mom they don't get to nurse for a while. He is not learning this and it is too painful to not find a solution.

 

One solution is that he's just being weaned a lot earlier than the other kids. But I can't cut him off cold turkey so I need suggestions for what to do to get him to stop while weaning.

 

Anyone btdt and gotten it to stop?

[gardenmom5]

generally - biting is becasue they're bored, teething, or finished and playing.

mine all responded to - you bite, you're done until the next feeding.   - that would not cut him off cold-turkey, even if he's only nursing for a few minutes.

if he's getting most of his food from . . .food, he's not nursing becasue he needs to eat.

 

if you want to wean him fast - start by reducing feedings, usually every other feed.  

 

keep in mind, babies have different "styles" of nursing.  I have two who were complete opposites.  

- one - ate to live.  nurse five minutes, done.  come back 30 minutes later, nurse five minutes - done.  eats that way as an adult.  weaned herself at 15 mos.  just simply quit. 

the other - lived to nurse.  as a newborn - would suckle the very end of my nipple because it was more savory.  I was ready to wean him they hurt so much.  he'd nurse so much - he'd vomit.  he'd scream if I controlled how much he nursed (so he wouldn't throw up.).  when it came time to wean him - he hit me - literally for SIX MONTHS becasue I wouldn't nurse him.  the kid who had refused a binky and a bottle, started taking a bottle. (*extremely* particular about the shape of the nipple, and it had to be silicon.)   and yes - even as an adult, he has eaten something until he was in pain because he ate so much.

[hjffkj]

When he bites it isn't while he's nursing to eat. It is while he nurses for comfort, which I've never had a problem with. Finding another way to comfort him isn't easy but I do it after he bites me. Well really want ends up happening is he falls asleep in my arms because he's screamed himself into exhaustion. He simply isn't learning that he gets no comfort that way if he is going to bite.

 

He doesn't really react to the biting. I had one kid who would bite and then laugh about it. He just bites and expects to keeping being able to nurse. The only other thing he bites is his sippy cup when he's drinking to hydrate. He will take a sip, bite, take a sip bite. That is what he tries to do with my nipples.

 

It is so frustrating. Poor boy just screamed himself to sleep in my arms again.

[maize]

Could his teeth be hurting?

 

One of mine bit because he has baby tooth decay.

Edited December 15, 2017 by maize

[hjffkj]

Could his teeth be hurting?

 

One of mine bit because he has baby tooth decay.

I guess it is a possibility I'll look into. But wouldn't he bite other things if his teeth hurt?

[Melissa in Australia]

I remember one of my younget brothers bit my mum. He actually bit her so hard that she bled. She had this automatic reaction where she slapped him on the leg. Both she ahd he jumped with the shock of it ( the smack) . but he never bit her again. He was about 11 months as well.

 

 

 

 

 

One of mine bit me at around 11 months. I weaned him cold turky. 

Edited December 15, 2017 by Melissa in Australia

[hjffkj]

I remember one of my younget brothers bit my mum. He actually bit her so hard that she bled. She had this automatic reaction where she slapped him on the leg. Both she ahd he jumped with the shock of it ( the smack) . but he never bit her again. He was about 11 months as well.

 

 

 

 

 

One of mine bit me at around 11 months. I weaned him cold turky.

For my own comfort I can't wean him cold turkey. Unless there is some magic way to dry myself up immediately. I produce a lot of milk and get clogged ducts easily.

[hjffkj]

Do you yelp when he does it? That’s sometimes been my involuntary reaction, and with some of my babies that startled them and made them cry, and they seemed to learn that way. Can you tell when he’s about to?

Oh I yell, he cries, and then screams because I won't let him comfort nurse. It is a not so fun process.

 

Tonight I really paid attention to nursing and could tell when he's about to do it and slid my finger in his mouth to stop him in time. We'll see how that goes.

 

 

Thanks all for input. I think I'm just going to try cold turkey if it really persists over the next week.

[sassenach]

One of mine was a real biter and when he did it, I would pull him in so my breast squished into his nose and he couldn’t breathe. In response, he would pop open his mouth for air, thereby releasing me. A few times of that and he realized if he wanted to eat and breathe at the same time, he better not bite.

[gaillardia]

I can't remember with which number child I had this problem, but someone had told me to flick his/her face. And a few of them had to go cold turkey for various reasons. Oh, I remember another thing I did. When it would happen, I would unlatch the little tot and promptly place tot on the floor, get up, and walk away. And ignore for the next 15 or 20 minutes. When the next demand was made I was reluctant to comply and sometimes would delay my response.

[Acadie]

I had a biter. I used Sassenach's method or said, "No bite! That hurts Mama," and placed her on the bed or floor. It did take time, but I think repeating the language and the dramatic removal from being warm and comfortable in my arms helped. And yeah, it doesn't help you get your baby to bed faster on that particular night :(

 

Amy

[xixstar]

My youngest was very much a biter. I remember a phase around 11 months that we got past - but I'd have to watch him super intensely and the second it looked like he was going to bite, I'd take him off. It was a very stressful period but it went away -- until 20 months when it came back again and nothing I could do would stop it. Plus then he'd bite at random times, before nursing, in the middle and at the end -- so I finally cold turkeyed that. I hated to wean so early but the stress was killing me because I couldn't relax at all and his biting hurt soooo much. 

I hope you can get past it and it'll stop soon. 

[ashfern]

With a couple of mine the yelp & put on the floor worked. Then I had one where I did what Sassenach explained. Pulled her in so she'd pop off. It didn't last long.