teething on my nip! (xpost)

[anyalily]

My 5.5 mo is teething. Sometimes she bites downs (with the gums) on my nip while feeding. Sometimes it is during let down when she is full, sometimes when she is fussy and hurting and sometimes she does it with an evil little smile! She thinks its a game.

My approach has been to say "ouch, that hurts mommy!" in a loud, surprised voice and pull her off but lately she is smiling when I do that. Sometimes she won't let go and I have to say, "don't bite mommy."

I want to teach her this isn't OK without witholding or being punitive. I don't think it could possibly help with so little a baby.

Any advice? Thanks!

xposted with bf challenges

[prothyraia]

I *always* unlatch mine immediately if they bite down and wait a few moments before trying again. I don't think of it as punitive, but preventative. In order to keep nursing once they have teeth, they can not bite me- I mean, nipple damage stinks.

[New_Natural_Mom]

A 5.5 mo is NOT willfully hurting you. The brain of a baby that age is not developed enough to understand manipulation or spite or malice. The baby doesn''t know any better. My DS is a nipper. Yeah it hurts, yeah I hate it, but he isn't TRYING to hurt me. I just yelp (where he gets immediately startled and stops biting) then I say, "Yowch! That hurts. No biting." What I really should be saying is, "Nursing - not biting." ala telling him what TO do, not what NOT to do. If it continues, just stop nursing & give him a toy to gnaw on & try again later.

[LynnS6]

Say "ouch that hurts" (a little loud is OK, screaming can be dangerous if your baby's sound sensitive. I screamed when ds bit me when he was 7 mos. He went on a 4 day nursing strike that only ended after he got up the courage to experimentally 'nip' me and I simply said quietly "ouch" and unlatched him.)

Unlatch immediately.

Give baby a teething toy or a wet wash cloth.

Try to nurse after a few minutes.

Learn the tell-tale 'sneaky look' (yeah, I know they're babies, but they still get 'the look') that means they're about to try to nip you. Sometimes they just can't resist!

When my kids were a bit older (8-9 months), I'd unlatch them and stand up for a few minutes when this happened. (99.9% of the time they were full anyway.)

By 8 months, dd clearly got it. She would get to the end of nursing and then she'd start to shake her head 'no' as I could tell she was struggling with herself to not bite. Having her shake her head 'no' while latched on was as painful as biting, but at least I was more good humored about it!

[Materfamilias]

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[quietserena]

I have a biter.

The thing that helped me a lot was prevention. I keep my finger in the corner of her mouth (if she's being bitey) and as soon as she clamps down, I'd shove my finger in her mouth and somewhat forcefully unlatch. The key for me was to put my finger between her gums before she chomped down too far. It becomes even more important once there are teeth. I've had her draw blood several times but this technique minimizes the wounds.

She's 28 months now and still doesn't quite get the 'ow that hurts' but does get and has for ages that if she chomps down, I'll unlatch her. Once teething is over, she is way less likely to nip.