BabyWhispererForums.com
EAT => Breast Feeding => Topic started by: anna* on July 05, 2012, 08:13:52 am
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We'rr both in tears she's just bitten me so badly I'm bleeding. My tricks I used with Stan don't work. She must be hungry she hasn't had milk since 5am? Ugh. And ow ow ow owwww. I know his biting phase will pass - but how do I keep going until then?
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Ooooh, ouch! So sorry she's bitten you so badly :(
What have you tried? We might be able to come up with something else :)
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With Stan I would pull him towards me so my boob covered his nose and he would release. This morning I did that twice with Audrey, the third time I said OK I guess you're not hungry and set her down on the floor, but she immediately started crying and trying to climb back onto my lap and diving for/headbutting my boob. So I tried one more time and she bit me REALLY hard. Pulling her into my boob does make her release, but she laughs and does it again. I'm really fed up with BFing at the moment, it just feels like a fight, even if she's not biting me she's pulling my hair, or grabbing handfuls of skin, generally just beating me up ::) She does this silly giggling 'hyperventilating' oh-i'm-so-excited squealing thing and will just chomp on me before she's even latched. If she's latched and then goes to bite me I can spot it (if I watch like a hawk) because she releases her latch momentarily but there's not much I can do when she just bites down with no warning.
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:( Sorry it's so hard right now. I guess they go for a reaction sometimes, which is so hard not to give. :-\ I'm not sure what to suggest, really. The other option is usually getting them off and putting them down for a few minutes so they get the idea that biting = no milk, but if she's nipping when she's not latched on, then I'm a bit stumped. My little madam has started trying to bite, generally, if she's frustrated/excited, so I'm working on that. :-\
Hopefully someone else will have some great suggestions for you/us :)
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I feel your pain, Anna. DS has a few teeth now too and is learning how to use them! I plan to wean him if it gets to bad because all my tricks don't work. He thinks I'm playing with him. Hope Audrey will cooperate and stop this biting madness.
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I know. It sucks. I really, really don't want to stop BFing, I BFed Stan until he was 2 and would like to get to at least 1 with Audrey... but not if she keeps this up!
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Anna this is why I pumped most feeds from 6 months to a year :o She didn't bite much but was so distractible, pulling my nipples with her, tugging my hair etc, it did my head in ::) Sorry i don't have any solutions, is A spirited?
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I'm so sorry! When they bite it hurts so bad, and it mad me a bit gun shy for the next feeding!
Is she teething? My LO bites when his teeth are particularly bothering him. Orajel on his teeth right before a feed really helped.
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She doesn't seem to be actively teething, but she's got two through already. She could be, but it seems more about excitement and goofing off than discomfort.
She got me again at bedtime, same side as this morning :'(
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I only fed at the end of naps woth Emma after around 4-5 mths. Otherwise, daytime feeds were a disaster - she'd be impatient, then would splutter with the fast oa ld, then would get distracted etc etc. Morning and bedtime feeds were always her best - and the DF of course....
there was no other option with Emma. Oscar was similar but pushing him closer worked as it did with Stan. With Emma it was one silly issue after another from birth to when we got to around 12 mths. then it was nice as it was just the am and pm feed and she loved them and wouldn't ruin them....
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Yeh, I was shocked that she got me at bedtime, she is normally good as gold for that one. Trouble is, she has a 5am feed, so then she's not hungry when she first wakes up and it's a long time between 5am and 11.30 which is when she usually wakes up from her am nap...
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I would go for that gap if I were you, more likely to eat and less likely to mess.
At this age, both of mine were on 7am, 3.30pm, 7pm, and DF 11pm. I was in work, I wasn't even pumping with Emma and what I pumped for O I gave in a bottle for DF from 7mths, dropped the 11am feed at that stage as it meant they would eat a better lunch and I was never one to believe a bf baby could go anything like 12 hrs without a feed so I kept the DF as the fourth milk feed iykwim?
So, when I wasn't there, during the day they'd have brekkie and water as a drink around 8-8.30 and then the same with lunch around 11.30am and more water....maybe a few baby rice cakes or soft fruit in between and then I'd sneak in and feed them at the end of their nap when I'd come home. I loved that 3-3.30pm feed at A's age - I hadn't seen them all day and they'd be sleepy and smelt so nice and it'd be a lovely come-home for me.
It is an option for these spiriteds - and in Emma's case, was definately the right thing to do. She would never drink EBM from a bottle/sippy anyway so I hadn't really got any other option. Oscar would, gladly (and had to, as I was away from him 8 hrs a day from 4mths) but if he'd guzzle back a bottle at 11am, he'd not want any lunch, then childminder was giving him lunch a bit later, then he'd not want to eat at 3pm etc etc. Mine needed this gap to keep them interested in both bfing and in blw.
S x
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Hi hun
I've been there - luckily once (so far) but that was enough - I couldn't feed from that side for 2 days! A couple of tips (sorry if you have tried them or if I'm stating the obvious):
- Make sure she is actually hungry (from 2/3 months they are much more efficient feeders and may not need to feed as long)
This was the case with my 'incident' - I tried to feed her when she didn't want to - and she kindly let me know!
- There are lots of different thoughts of how to react to a bite...some people say to be firm and withdraw from the feed. However, this can cause a nursing strike. Also, if you play up to it too much she'll see it as a game. So take her off and try not to react. Perhaps give her a teething toy.
- Wear a bright necklace / scarf to distract her
- Feed in a quiet room with no distractions
- Feed her when she is tired or 'chilled'
- If she is biting at the beginning of a feed try some hand expression first to get things moving quickly for her
- If she is biting at the end of a feed remove her...she may have finished and be 'playing'
- Give her a teething ring before the feed to see how she reacts to it or replace the breast with a teething ring if you suspect she is about to bite
- Apply gel 20 mins before a feed (not straight before as this can affect the latch)
- Watch your baby carefully - her tongue should cover the bottom teeth, making it difficult to clamp down. It is actually impossible for babies to bite when they are actively feeding
- Praise her when she feeds well!
-Feed before she gets too tired. Some babies love to feed to sleep, others find it frustrating.
Biting is usually a sign of boredom or frustration or a sign that your baby is initiating a game.
If you express some breastmilk and apply it to the area she has bitten it will help soothe it and it should heal quicker.
If she doesn't let go gently pitch her nose, she should release to breathe!
Think that is it!
Good luck xxxx
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Sorry i don't have any solutions, is A spirited?
You know, she's really, really not, but she is very busy. She was DRIVEN to crawl (which she is now doing, at speed), and now stand up, walk, she's really funny, giggly, into everything, is already getting herself into lots of kinds of trouble (she fell down 3 stairs today because she's determined to learn to climb the stairs and we don't have a gate up yet) - so completely different to Stan who at this age was still pretty much just sitting up and nothing else! She is so much fun, and so busy, always on the go. But personality wise, angel/textbook through and through.
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Sorry, but pinching a baby's nose to get them to open their mouth sounds a bit extreme to me.
Anna, great big hugs to you!!!!!!!
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My baby wouldn't let go! Couldn't manage the little finger in side of mouth and pulling towards me didn't help - luckily she let go of her own accord but the hv said to pinch her nose - bit like when they get a blocked nose and can't feed properly. It sounds extreme but so is being bitten!
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I think the other problem with the nose pinching is that if they have any milk or whatever in their mouths and you hold their nose they will gasp to breathe and liquid can go down into their lungs. I used to work with a little boy who used to hold lots of saliva in his mouth (ASD child) and his mum used to pinch his nose until they had a choking incident and A&E told her she should never do that because of that very risk so I am surprised your HV suggested that. Now granted if they are getting to the stage they are biting they are likely finished eating so less of a risk but still not something I'd be comfortable doing.
Hugs Anna xx rosa went through a stage of this and it was so bloody painful and frustrating. I did find it was when teeth were moving around and it was about 9 months it was at its worst. TBH i tolerated it for a while and then couldn't take it any more. In the end I used to just take her off with a firm no and ended the feed. I used to give her another few chances which all ended in biting and i found just ending it and moving on was much more effective in terms of my sanity and she did click that that was it for feeding if she was biting.
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(((hugs)))) Anna, wish I had a brilliant solution for you. :(
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{{HUGS}} anna..just read through this bc DD has been going in for bites each feed time now. They sound like they were cut from the same cloth, basically everything you said applies to my LO. She hasn't eaten for 6 hours and every time I try she goes in for the bite..no blood yet but now I am afraid every time I open my shirt! Tell me its gotten better now??