Bitten Nipple

You poor thing. Trust me, I know how much this hurts! Their little teeth are like razors.
The first time my son bit me, I just about went throught the ceiling.
It was pretty bad. My mom told me that when a baby starts to bite, it's time to be done with nursing, but I didn't feel ready to give it up just yet.
Give yourself a couple of days of healing time and just nurse on the other side. That's what I did. I kept my sore breast exposed to the air as much as possible so it could heal more quickly.
The trick is, even this young, is if the baby bites or begins to, unlatch and lay the baby down for a few minutes. He may cry, but that's okay. Then, give it another try. If it happens again, take the breast away and give him a teething ring to chomp on for a few minutes and offer the breast again.
Believe it or not, they really do get it figured out that mommy isn't a chew toy. Often, my son was perfectly happy with a teething ring because he wasn't really interested in nursing right that minute anyway. He wanted something to bite down on and it wasn't going to be me!
At 4 months saying NO or DON'T BITE won't really register, but taking the breast away and offering something to bite on will. If they're truly hungry, they realize they won't get any milk out of the teething toy, and believe me, fussing a bit won't hurt your baby.
I went from knowing I might have to stop nursing if one of my nipples had to get stitched back on to happily nursing my son for 15 months.

I wish you the best and hope you're feeling better soon!

Put some breast milk on the sore when you nurse, and also try a different angle to nurse - there's something called the "football" position where the baby is under your arm, against your side instead of in front of you. This could place the teeth in a different position that doesn't aggrivate the area. Don't know if a bandaid is possible (LOL) - you don't want the little one to choke on it, but if it's big enough for you to hold on to it while you nurse so it doesn't come off, and it doesn't interfere with the nipple, that might help. I know they make some swim bandaids that stick VERY close to the skin and don't come off easy. Hope that helps!

Try spreading a little breastmilk on it. Your breastmilk has healing properties as much as lanolin.
If you don't want baby to nurse are you able to pump at all on that side? That would help maintain milk supply. You would still have pressure on the sore, but you could control it more.
It is hard to nurse through difficulties but I want to encourage that it can be done with care.

This happened to me many years ago with my first son. I did not stop nursing him even though I thought I might have to. I figured out he was teething and so before or between nursings I would give him a large clean carrot to chew on or in the summer an ice cube tied in a cloth and this stopped the biting.
I went on to use this for my other 10 children and yes it worked!

As for self treatment. I kept my nipple clean but I would let him nurse on the sore nipple as much as I could to keep up the milk supply.

I went through this too. My child went through a stage of biting me for about a week before I was able to get her to stop. This does not have to be the end of breastfeeding for you. The side that your child bit will not dry up. Just keep feeding him on the other side and keep putting lanolin on the injured side. Also put a little expressed milk on the bad side to help it heal faster. When my daughter bit me, I would tell her NO and stop nursing her. That would make her very upset, but I didn't give in. About 20 minutes later I would allow her to nurse again, and she usually wouln't try to bite again. It took about a week, and the biting stopped completely. She was getting her first set of teeth at the time, so I knew she was only doing it because of the teething, and not to purposely hurt me. Just keep at it, 4 months is way to early to stop nursing in my opinion. Just keep at it and this will pass, I promise. You are doing the best thing you can for your son by nursing him. Don't throw in the towel just yet! I know how painful it can be, but hang in there!

1. i found when my son bites me, and he has drwn blood a few times, that the more i can nusre from that nipple the quicker it will heal.
2. i also gave him a little formula when i first started nursing because he wasn't latching on right and both my boobs were raw and bloody and a lactation specialist helped me. that is how i learned about how supplement with the formula and keep pushing through when you can. it did take a little bit to catch up on milk production. i would give my son 2 oz then nurse him so that he wasn't so feverish in his nursing and he was more gentle.
hope this helps. have a great day

This does not have to be the beginning of the end! Your supply will not dry up in a couple days healing time. But if you introduce formula that will certainly signal your body to decrease/slow production. If this happened yesterday, try putting baby to breast tonight in a different position like Patricia suggested.

Babies do all kinds of crazy things lol! Teething can cause them to get nippy or they discover this new thing they can do to make mom yelp but the key is to take them off and give them a stern "no" so they learn that's not going to happen at feeding time.

The best advice I can give you is to be confident in your ability to feed your baby! If I had let it get to me I would have never been able to breastfeed my preemie son till he was 16 months old. Just stick with it and learn as much as you can about breastfeeding. Martha Sears has a great basic book. You might also look for a breastfeeding support group in your area that can help you thru times when things seems weird or you think baby is doing odd things. Usually it's perfectly normal but makes us moms crazy!

You can put an antibiotic ointment under lanolin. This is all I had to do to heal.
It is usually not recommended to clean nipples but in this case you do want to make sure they are clean and stay moist. If you can nurse on that side w/o too much pain then that is fine to do, but otherwise you can pump a little to relieve fullness for a day or so. I have also heard that gel packs give a lot of relief to a bitten nipple. It may be that he is just starting to teeth, or I would look at the other reasons he may have bitten you. I am sure he didn't mean to do it. It is not a reason to stop nursing, you are doing great.

this happened to a women I met in La Leche League years ago. Her boy bit all the way through her nipple. OUCH OUCH OUCH....

Good news, the nipple and breast healed and grew back together and she continued to successfully nurse him for a couple of years. And she waited longer than a couple of days.

I would recommend to use very stern body language and very serious disapproving eye communication and a verbal warning not to do that again. And stay focused while baby is nursing the next few weeks to catch it. My babies would look at me and start to bite ever so gently. There was never just an outright bite attack. So I protected myself by watching them. They got the message and stopped.

I had a cracked nipple and can tell you the best solution for a healing nipple is to pump as much as possible in order to keep the supply access to the nipple. Make sure you put a little expressed milk on the bite too! It will help speed up the healing. Depending on how severe, it may take more like a week to heal. As soon as you can get baby back on that side, do so at least once or twice a day as only a baby can properly and fully drain your breast. The rest of the time pump. Many women, myself included find letting down and pumping fully is easiest when nursing on one side and pumping on the other at the same time. This will help avoid mastitis!

In regards to handling this. The best trick for me has been to watch them. The first sign they are going to bite down, pull them into your breast. This cuts off the airway for a second and forces them to open up their mouth to take a breath and let go. You can then take them off the breast and say something like - No Bite! Sternly and with a serious face. It takes some focus and concentration as instinct makes you want to pull them off instead. But, this method works because it forces them to let go so you aren't pulling and tearing your skin and it gives them a negative feeling/response that they quickly learn and understand (ie: if I bite down, I can't breathe and lose my milk, if I nurse properly, I get to continue nursing and get my milk).

Keep some nipple cream on it. I love Nipple Butter by Earth Mama Angel Baby. It keeps the skin soft and supple and it's completely edible. The other option is lanolin, which is great for the skin and sounds like you have on hand already. Keep it on and apply after every nursing/pumping to avoid dry calloused skin which will make healing more difficult!

Do not under any circumstance introduce formula. This will interfere and make it a struggle to regain or restart your milk supply. Your body will produce as long as there is enough demand. Your baby won't starve as you can give them the bottle of expressed milk if the one breast struggles to keep up with demand. In a couple of days, you will notice your supply increase as you will be nursing on one side at every feeding and pumping the other, essentially doubling the "demand" for milk. So you should be more than fine!

If you still struggle or can't seem to heal, contact your local la leche league for someone to look at your nipple and offer support. Sometimes stress or nerves can reduce supply and make it difficult to continue nursing as you cannot relax and letdown your milk.

I had this same issue when my daughter was breastfeeding. They have these really nice covers you can place over your nipple while it's healing and still be able to feed your baby. You can either get this through the store or through your local doctor. You can also try getting these cooling gel pads that are made specifically for your sore nipples. They really help. So sorry for the owies! Hope you feel better soon. :D

Hi C.,

I have two bits of advice for you. First, when he bites even gently or starts to, my moms pull baby off and say, "No that hurts Mommy." and set baby down in a seat of whatever is convenient and they walk away. Generally just a little out of eye sight, though they are keeping an eye on baby. About a week later the problem no longer exists.

As far as your milk drying up, I would hand express a few times a day. Then, as you can bear it, you might try a pump, you can save the milk that way. I would hate for you to get mastitis because of not nursing. Barring that you can try cabbage leaves in your bra to ease the tension until you are ready to nurse again.

Lastly, I would put Lanolin on your nipple to encourage healing. Nipples are pretty vascular and ought to heal soon.

I would avoid formula as your other side will pick up to match your babies needs, such as with supply and demand when you first started nursing.

Best of luck.
T. Nelson CD (DONA)