the biting horror...

Been quiet for a while, some of you might recognize me... My 7 month old
Zachary has had 2 teeth for almost 2 months now, but in the last week has
learned to use them to wound at will. Up until this point, he had only
bitten a few little times, very minor stuff, with the exception of one big
bite (couldnt feed him with that breast for almost 24 hours - much bruising
involved). But in the last week, he has started growling and biting, then
laughing about it. I know he is wanting the squeal of pain, and I have been
quite careful to keep quiet, simply putting my finger between his teeth and
my breast, rmoving him, telling him a firm "no", and keeping him off the
breast for a few minutes, before letting him continue to feed at the other
breast(if the bitten one is still in pain). Most of these have been pretty
minor bites, but there have been several big ones resulting in bruising and
even minor bleeding. I am actually SCARED every time I feed him. How
long can this go on? He is my third breast baby, and I haven't had this
problem before. I am about ready to call it quits, and although there is NO
WAY I want to do that, I dont know how many more of the BIG BITES i can
take. Help, advise, and reassurance is desperately needed.....
Dena, mommy to
Melissa 6-9-94,
^Matthew^ 4-23thru27-99,
Hailey 6-11-01,
and Zachary 8-20-03

"Mike and Dena" wrote in message
...
Been quiet for a while, some of you might recognize me... My 7 month old
Zachary has had 2 teeth for almost 2 months now, but in the last week has
learned to use them to wound at will. Up until this point, he had only
bitten a few little times, very minor stuff, with the exception of one big
bite (couldnt feed him with that breast for almost 24 hours - much
bruising
involved). But in the last week, he has started growling and biting, then
laughing about it. I know he is wanting the squeal of pain, and I have
been
quite careful to keep quiet, simply putting my finger between his teeth
and
my breast, rmoving him, telling him a firm "no", and keeping him off the
breast for a few minutes, before letting him continue to feed at the other
breast(if the bitten one is still in pain). Most of these have been
pretty
minor bites, but there have been several big ones resulting in bruising
and
even minor bleeding. I am actually SCARED every time I feed him. How
long can this go on? He is my third breast baby, and I haven't had this
problem before. I am about ready to call it quits, and although there is
NO
WAY I want to do that, I dont know how many more of the BIG BITES i can
take. Help, advise, and reassurance is desperately needed.....
Dena, mommy to
Melissa 6-9-94,
^Matthew^ 4-23thru27-99,
Hailey 6-11-01,
and Zachary 8-20-03



Dena,

I know how you feel--DS has just gotten his 2 top and 2 bottom front teeth
within
2 weeks of each other--he is 10.5 months old. Both of my nipples are sore
sore sore.
He isn't necessarily biting while eating but when he latches on and off he
isn't so careful.
He is so excited when he latches on that he bites when latching. . . and
when he is done
sometimes he just drags my nipple and rips himself off. Sorry no advise
here but I know
how you feel about thinking of calling it quits as I am nowhere near ready
to do that either.
I dread the feedings and pain also. Hopefully this phase will pass soon.

Robin

Mike and Dena wrote:

But in the last week, he
has started growling and biting, then laughing about it. I know he is
wanting the squeal of pain, and I have been quite careful to keep
quiet, simply putting my finger between his teeth and my breast,
rmoving him, telling him a firm "no", and keeping him off the breast
for a few minutes, before letting him continue to feed at the other
breast(if the bitten one is still in pain).

Youch. I remember that when Hunter was 10mos. I had to do the above and
also walk out of the room and leave him alone before he quit doing it. I
kept my pinky at the corner of his mouth during each nursing session so that
I could break the latch/bite quickly. He generally only nursed when he was
done actively suckling and sort of just fiddling so I tried to unlatch him
and distract him when I felt he was done. Sometimes it worked and sometimes
it didn't. It went on for quite some time before I started walking off and
leaving him and he stopped quickly after that.

Good luck.


--
Nikki
Mama to Hunter (4) and Luke (2)

"Mike and Dena" wrote in message ...
Been quiet for a while, some of you might recognize me... My 7 month old
Zachary has had 2 teeth for almost 2 months now, but in the last week has
learned to use them to wound at will. Up until this point, he had only
bitten a few little times, very minor stuff, with the exception of one big
bite (couldnt feed him with that breast for almost 24 hours - much bruising
involved). But in the last week, he has started growling and biting, then
laughing about it. I know he is wanting the squeal of pain, and I have been
quite careful to keep quiet, simply putting my finger between his teeth and
my breast, rmoving him, telling him a firm "no", and keeping him off the
breast for a few minutes, before letting him continue to feed at the other
breast(if the bitten one is still in pain). Most of these have been pretty
minor bites, but there have been several big ones resulting in bruising and
even minor bleeding. I am actually SCARED every time I feed him. How
long can this go on? He is my third breast baby, and I haven't had this
problem before. I am about ready to call it quits, and although there is NO
WAY I want to do that, I dont know how many more of the BIG BITES i can
take. Help, advise, and reassurance is desperately needed.....
Dena, mommy to
Melissa 6-9-94,
^Matthew^ 4-23thru27-99,
Hailey 6-11-01,
and Zachary 8-20-03

same here with my 10mth old, it's extremely upsetting

teapot

This started with Shay when she was 6 months old and the bottom teeth came
in, she sliced open the nipple right on the side of the tip. I learned to
unlatch her, place my finger on her teeth and say NO BITING! firmly. after a
few sessions of this she stopped. I also quit nursing her for that feeding
and went to baby food if she was still hungry.
Now that her top 2 are in at 9 months, we are starting all over. now she is
playing when she nips. I take the nipple away and say no biting.
Typically she is looking for soothing on her gums for her new teeth.
Hope this helps
Kryss
"Mike and Dena" wrote in message
...
Been quiet for a while, some of you might recognize me... My 7 month old
Zachary has had 2 teeth for almost 2 months now, but in the last week has
learned to use them to wound at will. Up until this point, he had only
bitten a few little times, very minor stuff, with the exception of one big
bite (couldnt feed him with that breast for almost 24 hours - much
bruising
involved). But in the last week, he has started growling and biting, then
laughing about it. I know he is wanting the squeal of pain, and I have
been
quite careful to keep quiet, simply putting my finger between his teeth
and
my breast, rmoving him, telling him a firm "no", and keeping him off the
breast for a few minutes, before letting him continue to feed at the other
breast(if the bitten one is still in pain). Most of these have been
pretty
minor bites, but there have been several big ones resulting in bruising
and
even minor bleeding. I am actually SCARED every time I feed him. How
long can this go on? He is my third breast baby, and I haven't had this
problem before. I am about ready to call it quits, and although there is
NO
WAY I want to do that, I dont know how many more of the BIG BITES i can
take. Help, advise, and reassurance is desperately needed.....
Dena, mommy to
Melissa 6-9-94,
^Matthew^ 4-23thru27-99,
Hailey 6-11-01,
and Zachary 8-20-03

First, your baby can't bite if he is latched on correctly. To bite
he has to slip down onto the end of the nipple. This usually happens
at the end of a feed. You can be alert and watch for it.

If he *starts* to slip down, latch him off and back on correctly.
If he slips down again, end the nursing session.

Second is how to latch off without getting bitten. The easiest
way is to press the baby's face into your breast, he will open
his mouth to breathe, and you can extract your nipple intact
with nary a scratch.

Good luck,
Larry

Mike and Dena writes:
: Been quiet for a while, some of you might recognize me... My 7 month old
: Zachary has had 2 teeth for almost 2 months now, but in the last week has
: learned to use them to wound at will. Up until this point, he had only
: bitten a few little times, very minor stuff, with the exception of one big
: bite (couldnt feed him with that breast for almost 24 hours - much bruising
: involved). But in the last week, he has started growling and biting, then
: laughing about it. I know he is wanting the squeal of pain, and I have been
: quite careful to keep quiet, simply putting my finger between his teeth and
: my breast, rmoving him, telling him a firm "no", and keeping him off the
: breast for a few minutes, before letting him continue to feed at the other
: breast(if the bitten one is still in pain). Most of these have been pretty
: minor bites, but there have been several big ones resulting in bruising and
: even minor bleeding. I am actually SCARED every time I feed him. How
: long can this go on? He is my third breast baby, and I haven't had this
: problem before. I am about ready to call it quits, and although there is NO
: WAY I want to do that, I dont know how many more of the BIG BITES i can
: take. Help, advise, and reassurance is desperately needed.....
: Dena, mommy to
: Melissa 6-9-94,
: ^Matthew^ 4-23thru27-99,
: Hailey 6-11-01,
: and Zachary 8-20-03

Larry McMahan wrote in message ...
First, your baby can't bite if he is latched on correctly. To bite
he has to slip down onto the end of the nipple. This usually happens
at the end of a feed. You can be alert and watch for it.

If he *starts* to slip down, latch him off and back on correctly.
If he slips down again, end the nursing session.

Second is how to latch off without getting bitten. The easiest
way is to press the baby's face into your breast, he will open
his mouth to breathe, and you can extract your nipple intact
with nary a scratch.

Good luck,
Larry


Not my baby, it's the first 'chomp' onto the boob when he has found
his target that is a bite if he does bite. It's pretty rare that he
slips at all, he is too busy trying to stretch my nipple away from the
breast to slip off.

teapot

"Nikki" wrote
It went on for quite some time before I started walking off and
leaving him and he stopped quickly after that.

Good luck.


Does anyone know what causes this behavior? I guess there is no way to know
but I was wondering...I have known others who say it happened and it always
seems to be boys, not girls, mostly. ???

Jill wrote:
"Nikki" wrote
It went on for quite some time before I started walking off and
leaving him and he stopped quickly after that.

Good luck.


Does anyone know what causes this behavior? I guess there is no way
to know but I was wondering...I have known others who say it happened
and it always seems to be boys, not girls, mostly. ???

I think there are a number of reasons biting might happen.

Teething
entertainment
no longer hungry but still fiddling around at the breast. I think one of
Hunter's problems was that he nursed for comfort all the time. He was at
sort of a weird cross roads at 10 months where he was past the need for so
much sucking, yet wasn't willing to give it up and move to other forms of
comforting. He also learned to crawl and that helped I think. It was
easier to distract him and play with him.

Not all babies do it. Luke never bit me while nursing. He did bite me (and
others) a lot in general though. Hunter only ever bit while nursing.

--
Nikki
Mama to Hunter (4) and Luke (2)