OUCH!! I've been bit...help

[~Sarah~]

Hi-
As you may have guessed DD is teething and 2 days ago she bit me quite hard.  The next feed she didn't but the next she did again.  I yelled quite loud...and I was trying to APOP a nap bc of teething, that was ended by my shriek...and pulled her off my breast.

Well, she hasn;t done it again, which is a good thing.  But, it hurt for sure at first, but then wasn't too bad, now 2 days later it is hurting TONS!1  I see no blister and I don't see that she broke the skin.  Is there something I should do or be worried about?  Will the pain stop soon?  When she latches I want to scram bloody murder, but it is gone in about 30 seconds of so.

I am sure this has happened to many moms, but boy this is not what I signed up for 

TIA-
Sarah

[clazzat]

Both mine bit from time to time - normally when they weren't actually very interested in the feed - and dd2 drew blood a couple of times.  I remember it stinging for a couple of days, but I don't think it was as bad as you are describing.  Maybe worth talking to a doctor or lactation consultant just to check that there isn't a problem.

[~Karen~]

I started a thread about biting a couple of weeks ago!  He's bitten me a couple of times today but not too hard.  Little monkey!  I take his food away when he starts messing around a bit as that's when he's not on properly and starts to bite! 

[teilvnav]

DS was a 'nibbler' from 3 months on, since he was an early teether and I was his favourite chew toy. I have experienced what you are describing, I think: it felt like he had bruised me, inside the nipple. I would give it a day or two before calling just to see if it gets better, but definitely get it checked out if you are in a lot of pain or it isn't healing. Be careful until it heals that your supply isn't affected: as much as it hurts, you need to let her nurse.

Good luck with the biting, hopefully the yell and removal was enough to teach her not to bite. DS got me really bad at 8 months, and I was bleeding pretty badly. If she keeps biting, I would definitely seek some help so you can keep nursing as long as you both want to!

[A pair of Charlies]

The biting: a friend (Anna*) advised this, which worked for us. If bites / goes to bite pull him closer on to the breast. It's a hard thing at first - instinct is to yell and push away, but pulling them closer (so they have to back off to breathe, but not smothering them!) changes what they are doing. Anna explains it a lot better. But for us it worked: pull closer into the breast and then release them back to feeding position.

Going forward, yelling / shouting can have negative affects - can scare them so they won't feed from the breast again and / or encourages them to do it again because they get a funny reaction. My DS did both of the above at different times. He was scared of the breast for a few feeds after I yelled and pushed him away. Luckily for me, he only did it a couple of times and I followed Anna's advice when I could see / feel it coming. When he was older (10m?) and bit me, he changed his mouth shape as he went to do it. I did the pull close and said "no", firmly but kindly.

I think we were lucky

[~Sarah~]

A pair of charlies-thanks for the advice...She has not seemed to try to bite again, but whether it is me that is a little gun shy or she who is nervous about that breast, but either way she has not been nursing on it as much the last few days unless it is DF.

I am still in quite a bit of pain and I did find 2 bite marks underneath my nipple, so I called my Dr. They want me to put triple antibiotic ointment on it 4xday for the next 48hrs.  If it is not better they want to see me and may need to prescribe a systemic antibiotic   I hope the topical stuff does the trick.  I am not looking forward to any more issues due to anitibiotic use!

[A pair of Charlies]

  Hope all heals soon

[~Sarah~]

The ointment did the trick!  Today the redness is gone...although still a little tender, but I think it will be 100% by the end of the weekend.

Thanks for the heads up on the not yelling...even a girlfriend of mine was telling me "you have to yell NO and pull her off"  I did it as a kneejerk reaction, but I can see where that is not the best way to go about it.  I had to give the Pull Closer method a try last night...she wasn't really biting, but I did not want her to get there either!

[mamat]

I was on here searching for a "biting" thread because Marlee has bit me today and she drug her tooth off just before bed! OUch, it hurts! I am going to try the pull closer method as well.
Hope it works because this is only one tooth, I can only imagine what top teeth will do!

[~Sarah~]

FYI if you have some sort of triple antibiotic ointment, put it on now...after I started doing that it was only 2 days befroe most of the pain and swelling went away.

Sadly still tender after a week though...but I did not know about the ointment for the first 4 days

[mamat]

how is the biting going? I have been doing the smother thing and it seems to work. She has not done it nearly as much as she was so hoping its getting better! When I squeal in shock, she laughs!

[~Sarah~]

She really only did it that one day. Thank Goodness, once was enough!!

I hope she stops nibbling on you