Teething Baby Biting During Nursing!

This is what has worked for me:
First, yes it's hard, but do not overreact. You must stay calm. A big reaction can scare them or I had one that thought it was funny and kept biting to get that scream.
Second, unlatch the baby, put her down and walk away. Very soon the child realizes that biting means no Mom.

mine did it a couple times, but not while teething. i IMMEDIATELY removed him from the breast and said "NO". if you act immediately, they'll get that it's not an okay thing to do. it's a lot of work to pump and bottle feed, so i'd just try to get the biting under control. good luck!

Some of those responses are kind of harsh...I would never thump my baby on the cheek or pinch her nose. It just seems a little extreme.

I personally broke the latch with my finger and gaver her a stern "no" which hurt her feelings because she teared up and stuck her lip out. I then put her right back on and she was fine. She only bit twice and head nearly all her teeth by 12 months.

My twins will bite me when they're finished eating, and are goofing around. I pull them off immediately when their active feeding slows. I never re-attach them, because that's when they get me. Maybe look for signs sooner that she's done. If you think about it, a proper BF latch will have those bottom teeth covered by the tongue. She's most likely catching you on purpose. They sure like to test out those teeth, and sometimes like your reaction...when I say ouch! Don't bite Mommy! They laugh at me or smile really big.

1. If she wont let go, pinch her nose.

2. Immediately remove her from the breast and do not put her back on for at least an hour.

S.

When it happens, scream as loud as you can. I'm NOT joking. This will startle the baby and she will open up and probably even cry. After a few times of this she will make the connection that if she bite, you will scream.

If this does not work, then you take her off the breast and put her down every time it happens. This usually works if the first idea doesn't.

I nursed the 1st 12 months and the 2nd 14 months.

Good luck! :o)

Blessings,

P. <><

Please don't stop nursing because of this! I know it's tempting. I'm still nursing my 18 month old and she went through a biting phase. It was awful! I used my finger to pry her off me and said "No! Don't bite mommy!" If she kept it up I would put her on the floor or give her a bottle. It did take a while but she learned if she wanted the breast over the bottle she had to stop. I did use the Hylands teething tablets when I knew she was hurting and it worked really well. Now she's cutting molars but she doesn't bite me at all!

I hated it when that happened to me with my first and 3rd baby. The 2nd really didn't do that. I nearly threw her on the floor out of pain and surprise. I stopped feeding the baby immediately every time she bit me and would say "No Bite!" or "No teeth!" It scared her, but after the 3rd time, she got the message. I also gave her a teether for biting to allow her to bite. And I used those oragel swab applicators and that worked really well for her teething pain. I also used the Hyland teething tablets. I had to put ice on my nipples to help with my pain. I also used Lansolin cream on me. I hope these ideas help. I too breast fed all of my babies for one year. When ever you start to ween her figure to start weening around 2 months before. Eliminate their least favorite feeding first for a week and then the next least favorite, and so on. And keep their favorite feeding the longest. Figuring out which is their favorite feeding can be tricky. Each of my kids had different favorites. One was the morning, one was before nap time, and the last one was in the middle of the night! I had to start over because I got rid of her favorite feeding too soon. Good luck!

Hi Hilary
I am a mom of 2 and had this happen with both. To me it is an opportunity to teach them for the first time not to do something. When your baby bites you, immediatly say OW! very loud. It should make her cry b/c it startles her. This is ok and it may take a few more times,but she will stop. If she doesn't, then take her off and end her feeding for the time (you can pump the rest) and this will show her that she can't bite. Some may say that at 6 months they don't understand, but I'm the oldest of 8 kids and this worked for my mom (who breast-fed all 8 until 1 yr) and it has worked for me. Try it!
Good luck! (by the way, my kids both got their first teeth at 3 1/2 mos. and started to bite then!)

i just went through this a few weeks ago! i would immediately react and say no and he would laugh at me! i ended up ignoring him, after a few days all was well!

Ouch! It will pass, but in the mean time here are a couple of suggestions...

1. Pay close attention to when dd is nursing, especially when she is close to being done. If she is sucking she can't bite.

2. One friend I had would "smoosh" her dd's face to her breast when she bit until she released.

3. Try not to have a big reaction, it might become a game fro dd otherwise. (WAY easier said than done, I know!)

4. GEt dd an amber teething necklace (check online and ebay).

5. Give dd Hyland's teething tablets 30min. or so before nursing her. These are homeopathic and won't numb her mouth like Ambesol.

6. Check out this awesome nursing website. There are probably more suggestions there. www.kellymom.com

Good luck momma!

When this happened to me, I started to keep a teething ring next to me when I nursed. Each time she bit, I'd pull her off, say "no!" and hand her the teether to chew on. I'd then let her latch back on to continue. With my DD, I think it was honestly a case of feeling the need to bite to relieve the teething pain--I don't believe she ever tried to hurt me. Within about a week, DD learned to pull herself off and put the teether in her mouth to bite, then return to BF'ing. It's really amazing how much they can learn when they're so little. You don't at all need to stop BF'ing, just help your little girl learn that moms are for milk, and not for biting! GL!

HI. When this happened to me, I never yelled at the baby. I guess it is just a personal decision. What I did (I read to do this from a breastfeeding book) was to smoosh her head into my breast, so she couldn't take in air from her nose. This caused her to immediately open her mouth and unlatch. it only took about 4 seconds. Every time she bit I would do it again and again, over and over. Eventually she learned that if she wanted a good, consistent feeding she had to not bite. Please don't think it's cruel or anything... it's like the equivalent of holding your breath for 15 seconds or less. I don't think it's any worse than startling the baby with a loud scream. Well, Hope that helps.

Hi Hilary
this is the advice that was given to me and it worked. When she bites you scream really loud and give her a little tap.
I did it the first time my daughter bit me and she did not do it again. They learn a negative response to their action.
B.

I'm sure you will get tons of feedback but I nursed 2 kids up to age 1 and very much experienced this with both from a very young age on. My aunt, an OB Nurse Practitioner and ex-nursing mother of 4, told me just to yelp LOUD and maybe, as last resort, pull off the child with an "intermission" and then restart nursing when the child bites-the yelp will startle the child but not seem "cruel" to them and the child will learn to not bite by conditioning, not "discipline" (as a child weaned so suddenly thinks he/she did something terribly wrong for mommy to stop "loving/nurturing" him/hr).
By age 6 mos. they will catch on pretty quickly that yelp is bad and it is correlated to bitting, which in turn will be bad!
Worked great for me, twice and my second was a very early teether and a shark!

Best of luck!
T.

I have 10 children, and seven are biological ones that I nursed. When my babies would start to bite down during nursing, I would take a few strands of their hair in my fingers, and begin to pull. The harder they bit, the harder I pulled, all the while, smiling at them. When they began to let up on the bite, I let up on the hair. They very quickly learned to associate the two things, that biting hurt their head, with no fussing at them during nursing time on my part. It worked like a charm!

No need to stop nursing. I went through this with my older son and we got through and nursed successfully for another 5 months or so. Next time you get bitten, say "No" in a loud firm voice and make your baby stop nursing. Wait several minutes and then continue nursing. Your baby will probably cry, but she will learn that biting while nursing is not okay. Do this each time she bites and she will quickly stop biting. I only had to do this twice with my son before he stopped biting.

My girl (8 mo old) was biting me, and it only lasted about 1 week. I removed her from the breast, and stared at her, and said "ouch!" I put her in a 30 second time-out before allowing her to continue nursing. She stopped biting completely.

You can nurse as long as you want! You are the Mom and you are in charge. Unfortunately, all babies that are nursing want to try out their new teeth on their Mommies. Ouch is right! I went through this with all 4 of my babies, and I nursed 3 of them until they were 14 mo. old. The first one for 7 months. So, you can make it through this.

Now, how did I get through it? It doesn't sound very nice, but it works. As soon as the baby bites you, you will need to take the baby off of your breast and tell her, "No" very sternly. If your baby continues to bite, then again, you will take her off of your breast, tell her No, and then thump her under chin. Your baby will cry and it will break your heart. Now, if this does not work, then the next step is to take her off your breast, tell her No, thump her chin, and then place her on the floor for a brief moment away from Mommy. This will upset her and she will realize that if I continue to bite, then Mommy is going to put me down. It does break your heart to hear them cry, but it will work. I had to do this with my babies, and they did learn. It may take a couple of times. But, stick with it.

Good luck and enjoy every moment! My babies are 9, 7, 5, and 2. The time does go quickly!

We went through that and I just took them off immediately, tapped them on the lips and a firm "no". It took a couple of times but it worked. I nursed all 3 of mine for the 1st year. Good luck!

Yet another motherhood challenge. I nursed 27 months and was bit twice. Once right after recieving a vaccine I put my 6mo old to breast for comfort and he bit me. I couldn't blame him, he just got like 4 shots! The other time was just a feeding and I reactively let out and ahhh! I scared him and he startled, I said "no bite". That was it. He never bit me again and he a full mouth of teeth when we weaned. Sometimes you just react to pain and danger and it's ok for your baby to learn some of lifes lessons. It should go without saying, but you ofcourse comfort them and reassure you love them but you are the mommy. Don't let a little bump stop you from giving your baby such a precious gift. Keep nursing.

My 19 month old cut her first two teeth at 5 1/2 months so I know what you're going through. I managed to breasteed until she was 11 months old, and by that time she had about 6 teeth. I did as a couple of others suggested -- immediately pulled her off with a firm "no" (and yes she smiled at me because she thought she was being cute!) then gave her a minute or two then went back to feeding. The only reason I stopped breast feeding before one year was because my milk was drying up! But it is possible to work through the biting. Just be firm and consistent with your reaction, and she'll learn!

My pedi said to gently "thump" the side of their cheek-------I just stopped nursing.