So what happens when there's teeth?!

[<Catherine>]

He's biting already, clamping down. Hes also pulling on my nipple. He's teething but nothing through yet, so what happens when there's teeth?! I just can't imagine the pain...

[anna*]

It hurts

Seriously though I think it's important to try to nip biting in the bud now. How do you deal with it? Actually Audrey never really bit once she had teeth, although whenever she was teething her teeth used to 'graze' a little bit while she nursed. Uncomfortable more than painful though.

[~Karen~]

Lewis bit me a couple of times.  It bloody hurts!  I know they say to push into them when they bite but the automatic reaction is to pull away.  Luckily he never drew blood like I know some people have had happen.

[cuckoochick]

Georgia has been doing the clamping/nipping a little bit. Charlotte never bit me but as Anna said when she was getting her top teeth I used to feel a little bit of grazing/pressure from them. They need to adjust their latch a little bit I think to accommodate the nashers! Honestly I couldn't imagine feeding with teeth before but it very quickly becomes the norm! Xxx

[<Catherine>]

I haven't 'dealt' with it, tbh. I've just sort of screamed out and pulled back I guess as it surprised me, which has kind of shocked him and made him drop the nipple and relatch.

I think he's doing it when he's uncomfortable, with teeth and/or wind. He tends to be more uncomfortable with wind for his last feed before bed and that's when we've had the 'biting' and proper pulling as he's squirming around.

[anna*]

Poor poppet, hopefully he'll just stop then when he's comfortable in the evenings. If it does become a 'thing' (I think probably most BF babies go through a bit of a biting stage), I found with both of mine that pulling them hard in TOWARDS me - which as Karen says is exactly what you don't do naturally - works. The boob covers their nose so they immediately open their mouth as a reflex. A few times of that and they just stopped, well mine did anyway.

[LovelyLilyandJack]

Lily only bit me once I think (on purpose as well to get my attention - I was talking and could tell by the look in her eye what she'd done! ). I expected jack to bite me once or twice but after literally 10 times or so I kind of stopped enjoying breastfeeding!  He always used to do it towards the end of a feed and always on the same side so I used to dread it coming.  Urgh!

[aisling]

Oh, poor ds and you.  Hugs.  Ds was a clamper (as he chilled and sighed with relaxation after first suck, the clamp (a double shot lol) came as an aftershock/quiver iykwim  ) and then got his first tooth and 4 months and second at 5 months.  I got him to stop by putting my finger in between my breast and his latch to bung up his latch and then he would get angry. Every time he did it, I put my finger in there, he stopped fairly quickly from what I remember.

As a strange as it sounds, at 1 year he had 16 teeth and I actually liked the feeling of his teeth whilst feeding, still felt good to me in a pinchy but nice way. Sorry, I'm weird, I  also enjoy having my teeth cleaned and scraped!

[<Catherine>]

Ha ha! There is hope then ais!

[Fiver]

The others have said it to well already
You've got both of the main methods (the unlatch or the pull in).  If you can, try not to yell out too hard as you don't want to end up with him being a bit afraid and going on a nursing strike.  An 'ouch' and then your chosen method usually does the trick

[<Catherine>]

Thanks ladies. I will do my best to go with the pulling towards me suggestion. I'm sure he's only doing it out of discomfort, so hopefully it'll pass.

I absolutely LOVE breastfeeding him now, totally in the groove with it all now so would hate for anything to change that.

[cuckoochick]

Yeah it is amazing once you get beyond the few initial hurdles. Happy BFing xxx