Biting due to cold

DS (almost 10 months) bit me for the first time yesterday. And the
second. And the third. I'm confident he is doing it because he has a
cold. He struggles to breathe sometimes as it is due to tracheal
compression, but now he's stuffy, too. However, he is still also
teething, so I can't rule that out as being a contributing factor.

My question is, should I do all the standard things to "train" him not
to bite (e.g., end the nursing session immediately, leave the room if
need be, etc) when he's probably doing it 'cause he's struggling to
breathe? I couldn't find anything that addressed this specifically,
so I wondered what your thoughts were.

Thanks!

-Carlye
DS 6-2-06
DD 9-29-04

Carlye wrote:

DS (almost 10 months) bit me for the first time yesterday. And the
second. And the third. I'm confident he is doing it because he has a
cold. He struggles to breathe sometimes as it is due to tracheal
compression, but now he's stuffy, too. However, he is still also
teething, so I can't rule that out as being a contributing factor.

My question is, should I do all the standard things to "train" him not
to bite (e.g., end the nursing session immediately, leave the room if
need be, etc) when he's probably doing it 'cause he's struggling to
breathe? I couldn't find anything that addressed this specifically,
so I wondered what your thoughts were.

I totally believe in training the baby not
to bite, regardless! If he can't breathe,
maybe you can change your position, sit so
that he is more upright or whatever will
help.

I started teaching baby not to clamp down
when baby only had gums, so I never had to
do much teaching not to bite with teeth.
When Rocky can't breathe due to a cold or
something, he just lets go to breathe, then
relatches on to nurse.

-- Anita --

On Mar 25, 11:51 am, Irrational Number wrote:

I totally believe in training the baby not
to bite, regardless! If he can't breathe,
maybe you can change your position, sit so
that he is more upright or whatever will
help.


Thanks... I am glad to hear that. I said "no" this morning and
unlatched him, and his sad little face made me feel like the meanest
mommy ever! I'm glad to hear I'm not unreasonable for training him.

We did try different positions and stuff last night and it didn't
work. He doesn't know how to deal with a cold at all. This is his
first significant cold, and it's still not all that bad. He gets
Synagis shots and was virtually kept in a bubble until recently, when
his doctors advised us to let him get sick to see how he tolerates it
(one trip to the mall playground later, and...). Anyway, I probably
should just try saline in his nose or something. But gosh, I hate
doing that!

I started teaching baby not to clamp down
when baby only had gums, so I never had to
do much teaching not to bite with teeth.
When Rocky can't breathe due to a cold or
something, he just lets go to breathe, then
relatches on to nurse.

In retrospect, this would've been smart for me, 'cause DS did clamp
down with gums occasionally. It didn't occur to me that we'd have a
problem with teeth, though, because his sister never bit me a single
time. Granted, I was weaning her by the time she was about this same
age, so maybe I just never gave her the chance.

Thank you!

-Carlye
DS 6-2-06
DD 9-29-04

"Carlye" wrote:
DS (almost 10 months) bit me for the first time yesterday.
[...]
he has a cold.

My 6mo when her nose is stuffed up tries to open her lips to breath
while clamping onto my nipple with her gums. A few times she has
clamped just so she can smile at me. I will have none of that. Baby
does indeed look very sad and I feel so sorry for her but more sorry
for my nipple.

Use saline drops in the nose, or just suction (do you have a nostril
suction bulb? if not, use the tried and true suck it out yourself
method), or give the baby a bath. A bath often helps to clear the
nose.

How about expressing and feeding the breastmilk in a cup? At 10mo the
baby can sit in a highchair, no?

Carlye wrote:

On Mar 25, 11:51 am, Irrational Number wrote:

I totally believe in training the baby not
to bite, regardless! If he can't breathe,
maybe you can change your position, sit so
that he is more upright or whatever will
help.

Thanks... I am glad to hear that. I said "no" this morning and
unlatched him, and his sad little face made me feel like the meanest
mommy ever! I'm glad to hear I'm not unreasonable for training him.

By the way, what I did to train both kids
was to push on their chins when they clamped
down with their gums (or teeth). For my
kids at least, saying "no" did not work,
nor did I like pulling them close so that
they could not breathe, nor did I like pinching
their noses (the latter two do not help you
at all). But, when I pushed gently on the
chin, they just let go of their gums (teeth).

I started teaching baby not to clamp down
when baby only had gums, so I never had to
do much teaching not to bite with teeth.
When Rocky can't breathe due to a cold or
something, he just lets go to breathe, then
relatches on to nurse.

In retrospect, this would've been smart for me, 'cause DS did clamp
down with gums occasionally. It didn't occur to me that we'd have a
problem with teeth, though, because his sister never bit me a single
time. Granted, I was weaning her by the time she was about this same
age, so maybe I just never gave her the chance.

I had the benefit of reading this newgroup,
so I saw all the posts about baby biting, so
that's why I started before they got teeth!

-- Anita --

On Mar 25, 4:11 pm, "Pologirl" wrote:

Baby
does indeed look very sad and I feel so sorry for her but more sorry
for my nipple.

:-) LOL. I hear ya!


How about expressing and feeding the breastmilk in a cup? At 10mo the
baby can sit in a highchair, no?

Oh, sure, he gets EBM a lot of the time (I work full-time and DH stays
home with him). And he's excellent at sitting in the high chair,
eating solids, etc. But I don't want to -stop- nursing at this
point.

In any event, I said "No!" and ended the session immediately just
twice yesterday, and he didn't do it a single time yesterday evening
or all night long, so maybe he's already learned.

Thanks for the advice!

-Carlye
DS 6-2-06
DD 9-29-04

How about expressing and feeding the breastmilk in a cup? At 10mo the
baby can sit in a highchair, no?

Oh, sure, he gets EBM a lot of the time (I work full-time and DH stays
home with him). And he's excellent at sitting in the high chair,
eating solids, etc. But I don't want to -stop- nursing at this
point.

I think Pologirl was meaning for the duration of the cold, or just to reduce
number of feeds at the breast temporarily, for your own sanity. But I think
the first line of defense is teaching him it's not ok. When he's got a cold,
fresh breastmilk is definitely better for him, even if only marginally than
stuff that's been dumped into a pump then dumped into a cup or bottle to
give to him.

A cautionary tale, my sister had a severe cold (bordering on hospital
admission) at 9mths, she could not breastfeed at all, this was the early
80s, so though breast pumps exists, they were not widely known about and my
mum just did not have the information available that we have, so the net
result was that not being able to breastfeed during this cold meant the end
of breastfeeding for good. I know it's a sadness for my mum, this was her
last child and having been so sick, my sister really needed the breastmilk
to help her get better.

Anne

On Mar 26, 5:42 pm, "Anne Rogers" wrote:

I think Pologirl was meaning for the duration of the cold, or just to reduce
number of feeds at the breast temporarily, for your own sanity. But I think
the first line of defense is teaching him it's not ok. When he's got a cold,
fresh breastmilk is definitely better for him, even if only marginally than
stuff that's been dumped into a pump then dumped into a cup or bottle to
give to him.

Oh, I figured she just meant for the duration of the cold, but I also
know what a lazy, big eater my boy is -- if he had nothing but the
bottle (or almost nothing but the bottle) or cups for a week, he might
not take the boob again! He's all about getting food the fastest,
most convenient way! Anyway, I would be concerned that after a week
of greatly reduced BFing sessions, he might self-wean. He seems to be
"threatening" to do that, anyway.

A cautionary tale, my sister had a severe cold (bordering on hospital
admission) at 9mths, she could not breastfeed at all, this was the early
80s, so though breast pumps exists, they were not widely known about and my
mum just did not have the information available that we have, so the net
result was that not being able to breastfeed during this cold meant the end
of breastfeeding for good. I know it's a sadness for my mum, this was her
last child and having been so sick, my sister really needed the breastmilk
to help her get better.

Oh, that's really too bad. DS is, fortunately, already better than he
was (thanks in part, I'm sure, to the breastmilk), but I can only
imagine what a really bad cold could do.

Thanks!

-Carlye
DS 6-2-06
DD 9-29-04