How do you teach an infant not to bite?

[ACsMom]

My 7-month-old just got her two bottom teeth, and she LOOOOOOOOVES to use them! She bites my arm when I'm holding her, my nipples while nursing...she bit my heel this morning on her way by when she was trying to crawl out of bed. When I say "No!" in a firm, kind of growly voice and stop her, she laughs - she thinks I'm playing with her. I don't want to be harsh or scare her, but I want her to learn to not do that. The only thing I can think of is to keep saying no and let her see my un-smiling face, then give her something she can chew on. Does that work, in your experience? Any other ideas? I never had to deal with this with my older one - she didn't get any teeth until she was 13 months old and by then she didn't seem to have a desire to bite things all the time.

Thanks.

[Lirazel]

No advice cause I'm in the same boat! DS thinks it's hilarious when I tell him "no biting" with my angry face. And he just got the top teeth too so now he can really take a bite! I've learned not to nurse when he's done eating and feeling silly to at least save my poor nipples. But also he kind of toned it down a bit on his own after a couple weeks of trying things out.

[aramat]

Minimal verbal reaction; they always think that is hilarious. For biting while nursing, I just squeeze baby tighter to the breast in a way that is slightly uncomfortable; usually they associate biting with that uncomfortable (not at all painful) squeeze very quickly. For biting arms, I think maybe something similar could work.

When a dog bites you, you press your arm in further to prevent the jaws from closing... Maybe it's not too different with a baby!

[sunnygir1]

I say "ouch! no biting" in a calm voice (usually ) If it is my breast, I unlatch the baby as I say it, then I wait a moment before allowing him to nurse again, unless he is done, then I just put my breast away and move on.

I do a similar thing for shoulder-biting and biting my back when in the ergo If he's in a really bitey mood, I usually put him down for a while.

I think talking to them is important. They understand more than we often think they do, and they learn verbal cues as well as others. If they associate "no biting" with being removed from the breast or other target, they will learn what it means. If I catch ds preparing to try out his new teeth on my body and say "no biting" he will often remove his mouth from my precious body part without biting me.

[boomer78]

I'm in the same boat. DD (almost 9m) will bite me constantly. Well she started biting my shoulders while I held her. I had big bruises on my arms and shoulders. She will also bite my leg, foot, nipple, arm, anything she gets her mouth on. She is teething and it will hopufully soon pass. She laughs at almost every single reaction, but knows she's doing something bad. Sometimes she will stop if I tell her it really hurts me and we don't bite. Other times she will pretend she is biting and looks at me. And then some days she will just bite me. If she bites when nursing (which is almost always after she's done eating anyway) I just pop my boob back in my bra and fun's over. And remind her again that we don't bite.

[Kikelet]

Oh man, I am so not looking forward to the biting while nursing thing.. Have you read the Breastfeeding Book by Dr. and Martha Sears? I think they have some good advice about this. If I remember correctly, Martha talks about how when babies bite, you take them off the breast with a firm word like "no" or "uh-oh" (uh-oh is going to be my word when we cross this bridge) and then you sort of cut off eye contact with them to let them know that you're not playing around. If they continue to nurse without biting, you smile and reward them with nice words. If they bite again, then you unlatch and repeat. I think when you say no and baby laughs, you can't continue making eye contact with them, because then they think it's a game (for some babies). When my DD starts biting I might put the boob away if she bites more than two or three times. I certainly don't want to encourage early weaning by not allowing her to nurse, but sometimes you just need to send the message that biting isn't ok. We'll see how this goes in a few weeks.. I think DD's about to start teething! Best of luck, mama. (I laughed when I read about her biting your ankle, sorry! That's just stinking cute! It would be so hard for me to not laugh if DD did that to me.. Try to keep your stern face on, though, even if it's hard!)