[Mandamama]

I'm losing sleep over this.

I was sexually assaulted eight years ago and, predictably, developed some fairly debilitating issues about my body. I eventually resolved them, I thought, until recently. I had heard about women who had trouble nursing because they'd been raped or sexually abused, but I had no trouble whatsoever decided to nurse my daughter. The past few days, she's been biting while nursing. At first, it wasn't bad, but she's been biting harder and more frequently and drew blood this morning as I nursed her in church! Anyway, I've come to dread nursing and even kind of resent this "assault" on my body. I feel guilty because I've been having "formula fantasies" all day! DD nurses about a thousand times a day and to sleep every night and it breaks my heart to think of robbing her (and myself) of our special nursing relationship. I don't want to stop until she initiates weaning. But I'm at a loss as to how to deal with 1) the physical pain of being bitten and 2) the old vulnerable feelings this has unexpectedly stirred up. (I've tried to stop the biting every way possible, I think. Even took some suggestions posted on this board).

Has anyone else experienced this? What did you do to stop the biting and to overcome your feelings and keep nursing?

 

[TiredX2]

First,

How old is DD? What have you tried so far? Have you noticed any pattern to when she bites (at beggining of session, at end, when bored, when overly tired, is she teething, etc...?)

 

[lisahas2cats]

Even tho my DD (7.5 mos) doesn't have teeth yet, she does a very nice (ha) job of biting with her gums. When it happens, I immediately remove her from the breast and say "No, that hurts mama!". I wait a moment, then put her back to breast. If it happens again, the feeding is over (this came from trial and error where I discovered that usually DD bites when she's finished actually eating and is now just playing...YMMV).

As far as the feelings...well, this is something that comes and goes for me. I don't have any suggestions, but I'm sure other mamas will. Personally, I just consciously remind myself that this is my child, this is a nursing *relationship* (meaning we're both participants, together), and that I *will* make it through one more day (or even just one more feeding, depending on how rough things are at the moment).

(((Hugs)))
Lisa

 

[BelovedK]

if memory serves, the biting only happened when the active nursing stopped. I was bitten a few times and learned to take her off of the breast when she slowed down.

Good luck in the nursing relationship w/ your child, i remember how hard it was in the beginning, though i didn't have the sexual abuse issues that interfered (hugs)

Blessings
~K~