Hi Mama's!!
I need some help. I have a 10 month old daughter that has 4 teeth, 2 upper 2 lower. For the last few weeks she has started to bite me while nursing. It hurts terribly and I have tried all kinds of things to get her to stop. Nothing is stopping her. I have consulted a lactation consultant and was given some ideas, pull her in, take her off and wait a while, just to name a few. I have resigned that she is just done nursing but her Ped does not want her to go on formula yet, she was a premie, and I am at a loss at what to do. I have tried breast milk in a bottle, and three different kinds of formula. She is refusing everything and I just don't think I can take the pain to try to nurse her! What should I do? Any advice?? I really want her to take the breast milk because I know this is what is best but how do I get her to take the bottle? She will take a cup with juice or even a bottle with juice but not the milk. Help mama's!!!
Thanks M.
PS Just want to add. She releases as soon as she bites So pulling her in has not worked.
I want to thank all of the wonderful Mama's that responded. She ended up drawing blood to the point where I can not nurse her now. I have two very sore breasts, with very large bruses and holes. It was so bad I had to go to the doctor, which is also mine. She said that since it has gotten so bad I am going to have to stop nursing. I feel terrible but I am going to pump and give it to her in a bottle. It was a fight but she took the bottle today. Again thank you to all those wonderful mama's the responded!
M.
At 10 months she should be on sippy cups. you might try putting the breast milk in a sippy cup and see if she takes it that way. Use the soft nozzle ones.
D. P.
The best advice I ever got for this was to immediately put baby down, tell her firmly "no biting" and walk away. Stay close enough to observe her for safety, but somewhere that she can't readily see you. Stay away for one minute. Come back and nurse again. Next time she bites, repeat. Repeat as needed. This sends the message that biting makes mommy and the nurse go away. She learns that some of her actions cause things that she doesn't want to have happen. She will correct the action on her own. It worked for me with both boys within 2 days and for my sister with her daughter within 2 days.
A lactation consultant at our mommy and me group suggested gently covering baby's nostrils when they bite - they'll release immediately. It worked with my son and he stopped biting.
My lactation consultant suggested firmly pull her in closer to your breast as if you were saying, "NO" but don't say anything. This will make her open her mouth but not stop nursing. She is probably just testing those new teeth and it has nothing to do with her not wanting to nurse. She will learn that it hurts mommy when she bites and will stop. I did this with both my girls and it worked.
I yelped and ended the nursing session right away. I think the startle and the loss of something the kids wanted taught them pretty quick. I know some moms who had reactions that the babies enjoyed, and so the babies would bite just to get the reaction. If you startle the baby and then put her down and walk away, she will be pretty miserable and learn very quickly that this behavior doesn't work out well for her.
I am not sure what advice to give you about her biting.
When it came to my babies I would look them in the eyes when nursing and when I started to feel teeth get ready to bite.... I would say to them you bite me and this is over!
You can not tell me that they did not understand what I was telling them because the teeth would release immediately.
My advice is very old fashioned and might not be met with much enthusiasm at a site like this one....but my mother nursed all 7 of her children, and I nursed my 3, and my sister's nursed their 3...and we all just quickly flicked the baby in the cheek with our fingers when they bit. Stopped it instantly. One baby did it twice. Otherwise they get the message quickly.
Good luck
A 10 month is far past the age for a cup.
she is not done with nursing just because she bites....This is not a reason to stop nursing....you can survive this- I promise.
I dont agree with the flicking a baby...but your daughter may need something different is the other ideas do not work.....the nostril idea may be ok, but it will take a while and that is not good when she is biting down on you..you need immediate release. I think the load NO startles them enough
to make them release because it freaks them out.
My 10 month old did the same thing and now after many times of biting he does it very little now:)
I just told him NO very seriously...he would laugh however and i looked at him serious and told him he was done. I also say OUCH.
I also told him "gentle"....
When I told him we were done, I covered up picked him up and found something else. I think he got the clue that the whole experience was done if he kept biting.
As with any form of discipline....each child responds differently.
can you see a pattern that she bites at the end of feeding, maybe you can take her off sooner so that she does not bite.
IT is also our anxiety of wondering when we will get bit...try to reduce your tension of the wondering when it is going to happen and see if that helps.
a loud, quick, firm.."NO!" is what worked for me...yes they did cry for a minute but it did not take them long to put it together, and it stopped
I nursed 4 kids for a total of about 7 years. They each only bit me once. Each time, my gut reaction was to slap them upside the head. I did, they screamed, I cried and neither event ever repeated! I've never been bit there again and they've never been slapped upside the head again! They're now 13, 15, 16, and 17! Best wishes.
K.
I can't answer your question about biting. It's been too long. But I just wanted to say don't feel guilty if you feel you need to stop nursing. I have twin girls. They were 5 weeks premature. My one twin had to be put on formula supplements because she was low weight gain. At 5 months she decided that she preferred the bottle over mom and that was the end. I tried pumping but I've never been too successful with that (I have an older child as well). The other twin nursed until she was 13 months and I took her off because of biting. My point is that I felt guilty that one twin was getting mom's milk and the other was not but in the end my twin that quit nursing at 5 months really has the better immune system. They are 12 now and she has hardly ever been sick (and she was also the one who put everything in her mouth as well). The other one seemed to catch everything that went around. I'm not trying to dis the benefits of breast milk, especially in the first few months, but I don't think it really harmed the twin that quit early vs the one that didn't. Just saying......
