My daughter whom is 6 1/2 months old started to "bite" while nursing. She has one tooth that recently came in. She does it only at the start of nursing and I take her off and put her back on at least a few times before she stops. My son stopped nursing when he was two months because of low milk production so I have never had this issue. I love being able to nurse her but if this keeps up I may have to stop. Please help.
I had a friend suggest to me to plug her nose when she does that and she will have to let go with her mouth. Once she realizes she isn't getting "food" then she may stop it, it may take a few times of that. Another thing I did with my kids was just say "NO bite!" in a sharp tone (just a serious, sharp tone should be enough at this age to get them to stop doing what they are doing).
Hope something helps.
similar to some other posters, i have a 2 year old who also bit at this age... and i had read to pull her in closer to me, this seemed to help me. regardless of which response you choose to use to deter your baby, you can prevent the biting and nurse for much longer.
i think that your daughter is seeing no harm coming from biting.
immediatly and completely end the feeding. put her down, give her some toys, play with her, whatever.
i did this with my son, the first time, and he never bit again.
ive also heard that if you hold baby very close pressed to your breast they have to open their mouths farther, and they cant bite.
but really, the complete ending of a feeding is what worked for me, and i hope it works for you. when shes hungry, she will nurse again, and she might take a couple times, but immediatly end the feeding and move on to something else. she will figure out that when she bites, nursing is over. :D its not even mean. its better than the 'bite her back' mentality :P
Don't stop! The biting can be corrected. With my now 2 1/2 yr old, he started biting when he teeth were coming in, and used the pinch method. At this age we used the cradle hold and so I would keep my 'upper' hand close to his face, and when he bit down he would get his cheek pinched. At the start, I pinched lightly so he wouldn't be completely startled off his rocker. If he continued in that session, the pinches got harder. I would say ow, and if he pulled off, I would sit him up tell him "no bite, hurt mommy, no bite" and make the sign for hurt. Then put him back on. It took a couple days and he got it, but he always experimented when new teeth were coming in.
A few reasons baby bites is because of a bad latch, don't know what to do wtih the new teeth, or they are bored if the milk isn't coming in fast enough. If the latter is true, maybe hand express a bit before putting her on. Good luck!
We went through the same stage with my now 2 year old at that stage. We're still nursing now so hang in there, it gets better! She would bite occassionally around 4-7 months old- she didn't know what she was doing but teeth were coming and I'm sure that affected things. I would scream or say Ow! really loudly, try to stand up, gently push her face into the breast which would require her to open her mouth and let go of the nipple. It hurts so bad but she needed to associated that biting with the clear result of Mommy standing up and nursing to stop. You're also coming close to the stage where nursing will get alot shorter as milk will flow easier and she gets even better at it - this was a relief to me:> Keep up the good work, this is only temporary!
It is good that you recognize that she's biting because she's teething. I've nursed 4 babies for over a year and I can tell you that it's only temporary and she's not meaning to bite you.
What has worked for me is as soon as the baby bites I quickly pull his whole mouth and nose into my breast to "suffocate" him and then he immediately pulls away. It's not painful. it's also necessary for the baby to hear you scream in pain. I will pull the baby into the breast and at the same time say "NO" very sternly. My babies have always responded to this technique. I read it from a book. With my first baby I tried to flick his cheek and he kept laughing at me and thought it was a game.
Good luck! You also might try giving her some tylenol when she bites as she's probably in pain.
When my daughter started biting, I would scream - even if it didn't hurt. She would look startled - but it helped her figure out that her action had an immediate reaction -
a) she bit
b) Mom screamed
c) she was taken off the breast
It only took 3-4 times before she never did it again. :)
Good luck!
Take her off the breast, say no and then put her back on . They catch on fast and this stage won't last long. They do say not to scream as that can scare them and affect their correlation with nursing. That's what THEY say....sounds like other moms didn't have a problem with screaming.
