My 8 month old daughter bit me while I was breastfeeding her and it broke the skin. I can't nurse her on that side because it is so painful. Has this happened to anyone else? What can I do? Any adevice would be greatly appreciated.
My second son started doing the same thing at about the same age! I cut him off, but I wish I would have switched to pumping. That's my suggestion! I really liked the avent manual hand pump, if you haven't tried one yet. Even better than the super expensive double sided electric one!
You've gotten good ideas. I just wanted to add that one other reason that babies bite (from my own experience) is that there's something in their mouth. They are at that age when everything goes in their mouth, and they can't suck correctly if it's in there.
No worries Mama. Remember to pay attention to baby when you're nursing...IN GENERAL babies bite when they are not interested in nursing at the moment and feel forces, are done but are being held there, or are having issues with their gums and are trying to relieve the pressure.
Be firm when telling NO (try not to be funny when to react--funny faces, tones which may well be your normal reaction to pain), end the session early and remove her from you lap for a good 30 seconds (which will feel like an ETERNITY) and then slowly bring her to you, hold her and tell her you love her and she can NOT bite, then let her try the other side.
Use your breast milk, Lanisoh, and air to heal your skin. You an still nurse, it may hurt for the first few minutes (eye watering, wincing pain possibly--I know that one well) bu then you'll become numb to it but usually using a different position avoids any of that. You can choose to pump that side and save the milk while nursing solely on the other side for a day or two. You may want to get a nipple sheild at Target or BabiesRUs.
Be at peace, she's not trying to harm you and she'd not trying to buck nursing.
Hurts don't it? My son did this to me a few times. I would treat it like a sore nipple just lanolin and if its too painful to nurse pump on that one side and nurse on the other side to keep the supply up and the engorgment down. It will hurt til it heals and hopefully it doesnt happen again. They say to promptly remove them and tell them in a stern voice that it hurts mommy to bite and not let him resume nursing but that didn't work for me. I clicked his head not too hard but enough to get his attention and I hollered ow! He cried but it didn't scar him and make him not want the boob anymore and best of all he didnt bite again.
Get some comfrey ointment from the health food store and use it liberally on the nipple, and cover with a breast pad. It will heal up in no time.
I did have that happen before. I yelled, and knee-jerk reaction, flicked my son's cheek. It really shocked both of us, made him cry, and he never did it again. I also let him know how much it hurt me. I never let him go to sleep nursing. Unfortunately, both of us dozed off that time, so I wasn't paying attention.
My daughter did this too when she was about 8-9 months old. I used lanolin after nursing, and finally had to change nursing positions. It seems really wierd with a big baby, but try the football hold (like you use when they're a newborn). It will put her mouth and teeth in a different position so that she won't be on the bite and will make it less painful. I only had to do this for a few days and the bite had healed. Good luck!
Hi. My daughter bit me and drew blood too. Shoving her face into my breast so she had to let go to breathe worked for me. (We have to do this every once in awhile when she starts teething as a reminder.) And then you end the nursing session for a little bit, telling her no, you don't bite mommy. As for the damaged nipple, I pumped on that side for a while as it healed and to be honest nursed on that side despite the pain. Kind of like when we first started nursing, it hurts like the dickens the first few minutes but then it goes away. It is no fun regardless.
There have been several posts on this. Do a search to get a bunch of other responses that have been provided before too!
I am sure that your daughter is not trying to wean, but is teething and biting feels good to her ( but not to you!). Hang in there.
Maybe try posting your question on the La Leche League forums:
When my kids bit me, I said a firm no and took them off the breast. Clear boundaries and consequences. They know enough at this age. Good Luck.
I had it happen to me, too. Even drew blood. Whenever my baby would bite (and it happened a few times) I gave a stern "No!" and ended nursing. If my baby would start to "chew" or "nibble" I would break the latch and say, "No biting" and return to nursing. Once she associates that if she bites she won't be fed, she'll stop. And just pump until it heals if it's too painful to nurse. It should heal pretty quickly.
Use lanolin cream, use a breast pump on that side (very carefully) rather than breastfeeding from that side for a day or two. And let your nipple air-dry uncovered for awhile. As far as the biting, the next time she bites or tires to bite pull her in closer to you so that she has to open her mouth to breathe, that really did the trick for me! And if she persists in trying to bite more than once during a feeding take her off the breast and say "no biting" firmly (but do not shout), when she sees that biting ends that nursing session she will begin to understnd that it is not OK to bite. Good luck!
I had a biter with teeth. Ouch! A gentle flick on the cheek worked. For one son, flicking and ending the session cured it. Neither one bit for very long.
It happened a lot to me. I'd put an antibiotic cream on it and then Lansinoh cream on top of that. Or just the Lansinoh cream...works wonders!
moist wound healing is the key. it's a good idea to pump regularly on the injured side until baby can return to that side, so as not to either lower your milk supply on the one side or cause other problems like engorgement and eventually leading to a possible breast infection. lansinoh is a great product, just put it on regularly and keep the wound moist until it heals. you don't have to use a pump to express milk, you can express for relief or there is also a method with a warm bottle if you're interested in more on other expression methods ____@____.com. hopefully you find something that helps, i haven't had this particular situation but a friend of mine had her son bite straight through her nipple and she just had to do the above until he healed. hope you can find some relief.
Very common. your baby is old enough now to use a little Love and Logic. If she bites, take her off, put her on the floor for a second. Pick her up, look her in the eyes and kindly say: "That hurt mommy, no biting, let us try it again." after a couple of times, she will not do it again...sort of like training a puppy. Oh, and I had to use Neosporain once and express the milk a day or so.
I was bitten by my then 9 month old and it got infected. Watch that side and make sure there aren;t any hard lumbs or tons of redness or heat. if so see your doctor asap. Otherwise, put lots of cream on and hopefully it will heal soon, good luck
Hi
Firstly - you may need an oral antibiotic to heal the bite.
Then - I used to keep a finger right at the corner of my son's mouth when nursing (this one had early teeth and we called him Benjamin the biter...) just before they bite there is a brief stop in sucking and they slide down to your nipple to bite - ie they can't bite with a good latch and a mouth full of breast tissue - so I would slide my finger in and forcefully say NO! and stop the nursing session. After a few rounds of that he decided he would rather nurse than bite. Check with a lactation consultant for more ideas.
My now 2 1/2 yr old DS bite me and drew blood when he was 9 months. At the time I was struggling to get him to eat and it was almost like he was self weaning, so I stopped right then. But up until that point I would tell him no and say ouch that hurts and things like that. I would even flick his mouth and tell him no biting. Anything that you can do to make her realize that what she is doing is something that you don't like. Good luck
