My baby's teeth are coming in, he keeps biting me!

Jessica - posted on 02/16/2009

Oh the joys of being a nursing mother! I had the same problem. What I did was told him 'no' very sternly, unlatched him, and woildn't let him nurse for a few minutes. My son took about a week to learn you can't bite your food source! Don't give up! It takes time but your baby will learn he can't bite you. Just be consistent in what you do.

Silla - posted on 02/16/2009

Thanks! Yeah, I noticed that he likes when I react.... it's hard not to!

Emma - posted on 02/16/2009

Try not to react too much.  Unlatch him and calmly say no, don't give him the breast for a few minutes. He will soon make a connection. I did this with my daughter and it worked really well.  As Ally said, if you react by shouting etc it can either become a game or such a negitive experience he may stop feeding.  My daughter is now 14 months with 12 teeth and still feeding. Lovely to hear someone who wants to continue feeding.

Ally - posted on 02/15/2009

uh.... not really understanding why people are telling you to reprimand a 5 month old. at that age, infants aren't capable of knowing right from wrong - they won't learn much from you yelling "no!"

a better, uh, nicer, way to get it to stop is to just try not to react to it. if he gets a reaction out of you, he's going to keep biting because the reaction amuses him.

Silla - posted on 02/15/2009

Thank you ladies so much! I will try all of those ideas!

I tried flicking him on the cheek already and I do say "Ouch!" kinda loud. He just stops and looks at me and kinda laughs. I think he thinks it's a game! So I will definitely start to put him down and see what happens.

Taryn - posted on 02/15/2009

Try keeping your finger close to the latch. If he starts to bite break the latch by slipping your finger in the side of his mouth. This way he can't get a good hold of you and really just ends up biting your finger. Try not to react when he bites you, I think they like that. Good luck!

Stephanie - posted on 02/15/2009

I also would unlatch my daughter when she bit and refuse to allow her to nurse for a few seconds. She figured it out pretty quickly.

Louisa - posted on 02/15/2009

My son did that to me too. What I would do was when he bit I would put my finger in his mouth and latch him off and then I would shake my finger at him and say no. Then I would refuse him my breast for a few minutes. Then I would give it back to him and if he bit I would do it again. Eventually he didnt bite anymore. Now he bites if he is upset or if he doesnt want anymore and I know to stop. I hope this helps.

Chel - posted on 02/15/2009

might sound mean, but you got to reprimand him. my 5 month old is doing the same thing. usually when you yelp in pain it shows them that you don't like what they are doing. a stern face might help. little pat on the bum. my first childtested his teeth too. but when i hollared ouch he understood that mommy didn't like it. my baby how ever thinks it's funny. he could be just getting used to it. When he bites you could also stop the feedand put him down and let him cry a bit. when you resume the feed repeat the process if he bites. it might take a couple tries but he should associate what he is doing with being denied the breast. hope things will get better. and i feel for your sore boobs...i got bit with my first so hard once that it drew blood but he had all for front teeth. when i screamed he knew that mommy wasn't happy lol ouch

Melanie - posted on 02/15/2009

My Mom says she would flick us kids and only had to do it a couple of times, kind of like an instinct... Mother like daughter, I also had an instinct and that was to pinch her cheek and say "no" rather sternly. I think the very first time I just said "no" and then broke the suction and thought after the initial shock was over that it must of worked. She did try it again however and that's when I started to pinch her cheek. It worked great and I actually didn't have to pinch her that hard. I still find myself doing this sometimes now that she is a toddler because she will just come up and bight my leg or something on a weird whim and think it's funny, I don't and pinch her and she still kind of smiling stops and then I tell her that it hurts Mommy and that I don't want her to do that. I think mainly she's just testing things out... Anyhow, I still nurse and don't really have much issue there past the initial couple times. Now she is 21 months old and I am newly pregnant with another and am seriously considering my options as she is not seeming ready to wean. I love nursing though, I just have encountered different issues now that's she is so much older and talking a bit and is rather squirmy at times. We have our own sort of language I guess and she knows that if she doesn't treat me nicely while she is nursing she just won't nurse. So hope my stories will help you in some way or another. Oh, if you are wounded, keep nursing if you can, and put that lanolin stuff on. It's awesome. Also, when you can let the air get to the damaged area and it will help. Keeping the area clean and well lubricated, but not wet is good. Your own milk also works nicely, leaving some on after you nurse. I did all of these and never really had to deal with the broken, or dryness that some say happens, I think they all work, but the lanolin stuff worked probably the best for me for that immediate soothing.