Transitioning from Breastfeeding to Bottle

i have to second what kirstin said. i tried all the 'nice' ways to stop the biting but in the end, i finally flicked a cheek and that was the end of that. of course all kids are different so you'll just have to try everything. good luck!

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I read through most of the other responses and didn't see this suggestion... I have used it on both my kids and it's worked well. I got this from a lactation consultant: when they bite down, shove their faces into your breast so they can't breathe. As soon as they release you to pull back and draw breath, let them go. IT sounds mean and harsh, but babies understand survival. You might have to do it twice or three times, but that will be the end of it. You can add a firm no and a stern face to it. Baby might cry, but baby won't bite and baby will keep nursing.

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Unless you have your heart set on weaning her from nursing, there is no need just because of this. Both of my kids did the same exact thing. They would get that mischievous look in their eyes and bite me, and yes it hurt! So of course I jumped and yelled, which scared them, then I grabbed their hand and bit them back. Not hard of course, just hard enough to let them know what it felt like. With my son, it only took once, my daughter was a little harder headed, it took her twice. :) Nursing is so good for them and breast fed babies will be skinnier than bottle fed babies, that is a GOOD thing. Breast fed babies have much fewer health problems, both when they are babies, children and adults. Don't worry about the growth charts, they are made by formula companies to get you to switch to their inferior products. Keep with it if you can. You are giving them such an advantage if you do. good luck. :)

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Ouch, The first time my son bit me while nursing I screamed (not on purpose - it hurt) scared him and me and he quit.
My boys would take a bottle from their Dad but wanted to nurse when I had them, maybe try having Dad or someone else give your daughter a bottle and leave the room so she knows nursing is not an option.
I know some folks go from nursing to sippy cups and skip the bottle all together.
Good luck!

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I breast fed both of my boys until they were a little over a year old. Both of mine did the biting thing you are talking about. It is painful but the only way to get them to stop is to flick their check really hard. Yes, it might sound mean but if you do it hard and do it consistently and say no they will eventually stop doing it. Both of mine cried when I did that but they eventually stopped doing it. I started transiting my boys to the bottle at the year mark by slowly mixing a transitional sippy cup with whole milk/breast milk. It might take awhile but it might be easier for you to transition at that point on a transitional sippy cup rather than transition to a bottle. That worked with both of mine and then you don't have the bottle issue later down the road. Gerber, Nuk, Nubby, Dr. Brown’s, Green Sprouts, Foogo, Think Baby are just a few I can think of the top of my head. Keep in mind that your little one might like a soft VS hard spout’s better. I found that I had to try a few different ones to eventually find the one my little guys liked. Don't give up you have breastfed this long they will stop biting if you don't allow it! Good luck!

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my son went through a biting phase and it did end and we're still nursing (he's 2 y/o). Maybe you're okay with stopping breast feeding, but if you don't really want to stop, the biting tends to be a phase. I would unlatch DS, tell him that it's not okay to bite mommy, relatch and if he bit again, we were done with that feeding. You could try lansinoh to help out the pain - a little lubrication during nursing helps.

As for the bottle, she'll probably take it, especially if she's not getting the breast, and you could also try a nuby sippy.

good luck!!!

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Have you told her, "NO! You're hurting Mama." when she bites? I did that a couple of times, and my daughter stopped. I fed until she was two with a lot of teeth and once I had said that at 5 mos, she never did it again. Your daughter needs to understand that it is NOT ok to bite. Babes understand far more than we think.

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Hi W.,

What I have told my client's to do that has worked for them, was to pull baby off breast and set her down and sternly say "No, that hurts Mommy". Very soon she will get the hint. It is something that needs to be worked through, but is usually short lived, and you are doing her such a HUGE favor by continuing to nurse. It is simply like when they learn that slapping water makes it splash...it is cause and effect. That is the grin that you see. When she learns the effect is unfavorable she will give it up.

Also, if you really want to transition and take on pumping them I would recommend hubby feed her when you are not in the house initially as she knows you are there even if you are in a different room.

Good luck!
T. Nelson CD (DONA)

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I'm going to ditto a few of the other ladies about smushing your breast into her nose for a second. That and putting her down right away without too much fuss and just telling her "no biting mama.".
I can always tell when my son is teething because he starts to get bite-y. The biting usually only lasts a few days when I use the tips above. He is 16.5 months old and still nursing and since all of his teeth (except 2 year molars) are popped through, he has stopped biting me all together.
I agree that it would be much easier to just keep nursing and not have to pump all the time, especially at this age. Babies are much more efficient than pumps and it's probably going to be a big pain in the booty for you to do that for several months. I know it hurts, but it you make it clear right away and just stop the nursing session for a while, she will get the point quicky.
Good luck!

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When she bites, take her off the nipple and say "no", then offer the nipple again. If she bites again repeat the "no". Don't raise your voice, just say no. If she still bites, assume she is full. At 8 months they are very efficient feeders and she may have already gotten her fill.

It may be time to offer some solids, rather than suppliment with the bottle,

i have this problem with my son. it started at 7mths when he started teething. now he only does it when i try nursing him and he isnt really hungry. and i get that sly look that screams hear it comes i am going to bite you. so i wait until he gets hungry. then he doesnt do it. he wouldnt take a sippy or anything either at that age. i wanted to wean because of the bitting, but no luck. now that he is 9 almost 10mths he will drink breast milk from a sippy if i want him too. he actually likes the cup now. hope this helps?

I think that it would actually be easier to continue nursing rather than to pump. Children really only try this for a very short time and then move on. Babies DO NOT wean at 8-9 months, there is no such thing as a baby that can eat all solid foods at this point. Some babies do get less intereresting in nursing when there is stimulation or more wiggly, but they are not actually weaning..

There needs to be an extreme, immediate reaction to her biting. I would forcefully poke my finger into my son's mouth if he bit me or I would flick his cheek and yell. He was very young when he got teeth (4 months), so it took a little bit of time for him to learn. However, he really only did it for a few weeks. It's all about the BIG reaction, babies don't like yelling or a flick on the cheek. I have seen my friends try to end this behavior with a very gentle reactions like, "no, honey please don't bite".. That doesn't work..

Believe me, it's easier to work out this issue than it is to pump for 4+ months.

Biting is NOT nature's way of saying that a child is ready to wean. NATURE does not have formula.. My son started biting at 4 months old, he would have died in NATURE if I had weaned him. An 8-9 month old would also not survive very well in NATURE without breast-milk. Children are only ready to wean when they can eat an entire diet of solid food. NOT when they can transition to cow's milk at 12 months. Cow's milk is formulated for baby cow's, human milk is formulated for baby humans. Anyway, general point being that no infant would wean themselves to their death in NATURE.

Good luck with this.. :)

My son did this too at about the same age. I gradually stopped feeding him while he was 'awake' and he seemed to do fine with it. I substitutted (sp?) jarred food, finger food, etc. He still nurses at night... it seems to work well for us.

just how we did it! I don't know if that will help you at all!
:)

Good luck!

My daughter was the same so one morning I didn't even offer her the breast just gave her the bottle, She was very hungry so she took it & bottle fed up to nine months then when to sippy cups. She seems close enough if you want to try sippy cups mybe she will like that better & it's better for her teeth. Best of luck.

How about the sippy cup? I had one that didn't really like bottles but adjusted to a sippy cup early.I quit breast feeding when the biting started, I figured it's natures way of telling me it's time.Have a good day.

agh. how frustrating.
You might just keep going with the 'pop her off immediately, wait at least 1/2 hour' trick... she might get it soon. Sometimes the phase is pretty short - once your kid realizes you're not kidding around.
My daughter never took a bottle. She was able to drink from a sippy cup relatively early, but it was difficult for a while. You could try a different formula, or tasting your milk to make sure it is staying fresh (some pumped milk goes off REALLY quickly) and see if one of those helps.
You might also ramp up on the solid foods, in the hopes of replacing calories that way.

All of my children tried biting (I have 3). When they would bite, I would pull my nipple back and say "No" while flicking them under the chin with my finger. It got their attention, and my two boys each only bit two or three times in their year of nursing. My girl however, started biting again when she was ready to wean, around 10 months, and she was persistent. She would never take formula, doesn't drink milk and wouldn't let us feed her. I was very stressed out at first, but she is doing just fine. She eats lots of cheese, and has yogurt with Cheerios everyday for calcium. They seem to get what they need. Good luck with getting your little one to stop biting, I know how painful that is.

What about a Breast Shield? It worked really well when my daughter was sucking so hard, I thought my breast would fall off. I imagine it would help with breast feeding in your situation as well.

Once when my son bit me, I bit him back (not hard) on his hand. He looked really surprised, (didn't cry) then never bit me again. Maybe she needs a dose of her own medicine.

W.,

My son, too, bit me while nursing. This is fairly common. My question is: what's your reaction. If it's a shout or something else exciting, it may be reinforcing her exploration--"hmm...when I do this, mom does this"...and it becomes a game. I would say that's probably the grin you are seeing, some anticipation of excitement and not necessarily the evil intention of hurting mom. At this age, I don't really believe that children really understand maliciously hurting another person. They are also incapable of learning from punishment at this age, so anything too unrelated won't send a message that you want the biting to stop.

I'd also say that physical punishment like flicking or biting them back is extremely hurtful and confusing to our babies, who love and trust us. We are their teachers, and when we bite and hit, we teach them to bite and hit.(Perhaps not immediately, but later on. And we set the example that hurting other people to 'teach them a lesson' is acceptable.) If we hurt them, we violate their trust in us as their benevolent caregivers. Children are their own people and just as we would be affronted to have another person flick our face or bite us, so are they. It is better to work with them as human beings than to try to "train" them the way many people train animals, through physical means.

This is going to sound, perhaps, unreasonable, but when I was bit, I tried to keep my cool and react as little as possible. I took a deep breath, got my son off the nipple as quickly as possible and put him on the floor next to me. "Your teeth hurt me. All done for now." I put him back on to nurse again when we were both ready (if I was still sore, it took longer, usually 5-10 minutes) and reminded him "Gentle for Mama's breast". If it happened again, same thing. I wasn't trying to teach him through deprivation, but through changing my reaction: it was not fun for him when I kept calm and just put him down instead of yelping, etc., and he received no special attention. Instead, biting meant that he was done getting attention from mama.

In regard to drinking...it sounds like a cup might be your next best bet. Some brands make 'training cups' with a soft teether spout. Munchkin also makes a "good plastic" cup with straw. It's a pain to clean, unless you have a dishwasher, but it's succeeded where some other types of sippy cups failed.

Best of luck to you!

No advice, but I thought I'd add that my son also used to get a rather impish/evil look on his face after be bit me--he thought it was so funny! It helped if I laid down to nurse him, but it was still a challenge to keep it up till he was a year old--I do know I started nursing less and less because it really hurts!

I am a huge breastfeeding advocate, but my second was a horrible nurser! He bit from day one and nothing could stop him. He even perfected holding a tight bite while continuing to nurse. I tried everything, and nothing would change him. At 6 months, he got all 4 front teeth, and made me miserable. One night, he bit me 30 times in one night. I quit nursing that night! He too refused to ever take a bottle, and was really ticked that I wouldn't let him nurse again. It was a miserable morning with him hungry and refusing the bottle, but by evening, he was doing great with the bottle and loved it. I felt bad that night for refusing him something he loved so much and tried to nurse again, but he refused. He now loved the bottle more. If you are sure you want to quit, it may take just letting her get over her stubbornness and give her a day or two to figure it out. She won't starve herself.

Ugh, I totally feel for you. While my daughter was always great with a bottle, we did have a number of periods of biting. Sometimes teething related, sometimes not. What worked for me was taking her firmly and pushing her face into my breast (makes her let go to breath) and saying in a serious voice "no bite mama, that's ouch for mama!". After 2 warnings, she'd be done nursing for at least an hour. She loved (loves) to nurse, so she'd get the message and stop, at least for a couple of weeks. Yes, she'd cry sometimes, and I'd hug her and tell her she was a good girl, and that mama loves her, but that it was ouch for mama and she couldn't do it. She's now almost 15 months and still happily nursing and not biting (mostly).

It's hard to tell them no, or ouch, because it does upset them (my daughter would just crumple her face and cry for a minute or so looking so pathetic), but they do get the message that 1) ouch is not good for anyone (a good thing for later when "careful - that's ouch!" is a useful deterent ) and 2) it's not OK to bite. And you can do it gently and with love and make sure breastfeeding is still a positive experience for all.

That said, you might also try a sippy cup rather than a bottle - it's less like nursing so she might take it more readily than just wanting to nurse more.

Good luck!!

You might try putting her milk in a sippy cup; the type with a straw; not necessarily the one you have to tilt up to get the milk out of. It might just be different enough from a nipple/breast to make her want to try it. Good luck!