[crazyrunningmama]

My dd is 14 months and has been biting! So not cool. She pretty much only does it when she is really tired and up til now I have been nursing her to sleep for pretty much every nap and at bedtime. She chomps down and then pulls away with a snap. She only does it when she's been nursing for a while, so if I say "no biting" and stop nursing, she doesn't really care or if she is really tired she just cries in that heartbreaking "but I'm so tired and I need the boob" sort of way. My breasts have tiny scabs from where the nipple has cracked from the bites and now when she nurses it HURTS like the whole breast is on fire. I have been using Lansinoh and probably not nursing as much as it is really painful.

So, 2 questions:

1. advice on getting her to stop?

2. is this a normal amount of pain or do I have thrush or something else going on? If so, how can I treat it?

thank you oh, wonderful ladies of MDC!

 

[Anna Phor]

Ouch.

I had a few biting episodes with my son when he was younger--around the 7-10 month mark maybe? When he was first getting a few teeth. I don't know if this a recommended practice or not, but I would yelp. Loud. And somewhat involuntarily! And I'd put him down on the floor for a second. He would always look very surprised and then wail a bit, but it seemed to cure of him of the biting reasonably quickly. (Normally I'm not a fan of making my child cry, I hasten to add, but I'm a bigger fan of protecting our breastfeeding relationship, so a minute or so of temporary upset is a small deal.)

To heal the nipple, I used all purpose nipple ointment (I got it from the breastfeeding clinic near me, not sure how to get it otherwise) to speed healing & prevent thrush. On days I WOH, I would use neosporin on the nipple in the morning, but I'm not sure if that is safe for a baby to ingest.