19 mo biting- but only while sleeping

[babygrey]

Hi mamas. Hope someone can offer me some advice, bc I'm 18 weeks pg and my nipples just can't take this anymore on top of the pg ouch of nursing.

My DD is 19mo. She's never had a problem w/ latch and never been a purposful biter, beyond the occ exploration in infancy.

I nurse her to sleep at night, then usually fall asleep after she's fallen deeply asleep and unlatched (bed sharing). The past few weeks, after she falls asleep, she's started unlatching, but not opening her mouth- then, I assume since she's asleep, she closes her jaw resulting and MAJOR unintentional but horribly painful bite. I have fairly large nipples and I literally have to pry her jaw open to get her teeth off of them which usually wakes her up, resulting in a very bad mood for both of us as the situation just repeats when she goes back to sleep. When she nurses in the middle of the night the same exact thing happens. She draws blood sometimes. To say it is a terrible way to be woken up is a terrible understatement :lol
 

I can't think of anything that is different about how I'm nursing her. Same position, routine, etc as always. She doesn't do it when she's awake and nursing and seems to have no idea what happened when I wake her. She's not teething. She got two of her molars a month or so ago, but this started after they were in. I'm out of ideas and out of coping skills for having to pry a slumbering toddler of the breast.
She's deeply asleep, so I don't really know what to do here, but this is NOT working.
What can I do?? Anyone have any idea why she's doing this?
TIA.

[babygrey]

nobody? :(

This, honestly, is the first thing I've considered pushing her to wean over. It seems like such a silly thing to wean over and she's NOT ready. But, she drew blood again tonight. She was fast asleep. IDK what to do. :(

[EmilyG]

Oh my!  That sounds aweful!  Does she have a cold or something?  I've never had an issues to that extreme, but my dd did kind of bite some when she had a cold and couldn't breathe through her nose well.  Can you try unlatching her before she is sound asleep enough to bite down like that?

[maddymama]

Hi Mama,

Nursing is a relationship, a two-way street.  You need to be happy too, and being bitten at night does not make anyone happy.

How frustrating!

If you know that she starts to loosen her jaw when she starts to fall asleep, can you slip your finger in at the corner of her mouth and unlatch her before she has the chance to hurt you?  She might get frustrated, but she'll learn.

She's definitely old enough to learn how to not hurt you.  It might be a rough adjustment period when you are removing your nipple from her mouth, or when you move away from her after she bites you and you say, "No more nursing tonight," but she's old enough to learn that biting means hurting mama, and hurting mama isn't right.

good luck,

~maddymama

[namistenicole]

I hope you've found a solution already!

My daughter goes through periods of biting in her sleep, but nothing that draws blood (my god!). If it were me I would start to proactively teach her to unlatch while she's still a little awake, like once she's done vigorously nursing. I know this is easier said than done... I've been using 'Pantley's Gentle Removal Plan' the last couple weeks and have been shocked at how well my daughter is doing with it. She is nursing A LOT less in the night and will now roll over and go to sleep without the nipple after I gently take it out of her mouth (she usually has a death grip on it with her teeth and tongue). I highly recommend you pick up a copy of the No Cry Sleep Solution and read the section on how to diminish the sucking to sleep association. Good luck, that must be awful!

[babygrey]

oh, thank you mamas for the advice

EmilyG- she DOES actually have a cold. I never even thought about that. I'm hoping that's the answer and I def won't push her to wean until I make sure it isn't just her stuffy nose

Maddymama and Nicole- great suggests. Tonight, i tried gently unlatching her before she was all the way asleep. It actually went pretty well. We had to re-nurse a few times, but she eventually just gave a half-hearted nuzzle and passed out :)

Thank you thank you for the suggests. Hopefully this shall pass.

[namistenicole]

Originally Posted by babygrey 

We had to re-nurse a few times, but she eventually just gave a half-hearted nuzzle and passed out :)

Yay!