This may be a very strange post to many of you but I really need some suggestions for my poor boobies. Westyn has her two front bottom teeth and she has been biting me lately while nursing. While it is impossible to bite down while sucking as their tongue covers their bottom teeth, she will every now and then stop, pull her tounge away and BITE ME! This is posing quite a problem for her and I as I'm very committed to nursing for the first year.
Any suggestions would be great!
6 comments:
I cannot help but post on this. I am a self proclaimed blog stalker... Friends with Stacie Mullins, Kelly Giese, Rauh, Fitz and that group of girls. I read your blog from time-to-time via Stacie's blog. I think I know what you need... Nipple shields! You can get them from Target. They sound weird but they are life savers. They do take some getting use to but they actually work and end up relieving dryness too. Hope the advice helps. Mom to mom you know.
My little girl was 8 mo. when she got her teeth and started biting my boobs. I know your pain. It hurt so bad that I screamed and said "No" in a loud voice. Well it scared her so bad that she would never go back to nursing. She received bottles when I was at work and from then on out she would ONLY take the bottle. So I guess I really don't have any advice for you but I can relate to your pain. Good luck. Keep with the nursing as long as you can but if you have to switch to bottles it is not the end of the world.
OH so sorry friend! I really don't have much advise in this matter cause I stopped nursing both the kids at about 4 months...I really envy you for wanting to do it for the first year though! Good luck, I have heard those nipple sheilds work wonders for boobies though! You should email Sus, she nursed forever and would probably have something good and natural you could try!
xo.
You should speak to a lactation consultant because proper nursing should not involve the teeth at all. Typically if you feel the teeth, She is not latched correctly as they can not effectively nurse if you feel their teeth on your breast. Good luck and keep at it-- a mouthful of teeth shouldn't spoil your nursing~ old school mama
I admit- I'm a blogstalker too via Lana... I'm still nursing at 14 months (after not wanting to breastfeed at all!).
My little girl went through a few phases of biting, usually during episodes of teething. You can get through this!
First, don't yelp in pain (hard to do, I know). My girl LOVED getting a reaction. She'd look up, get a devilish look in her eyes, latch on and then bite again! I would give her a firm 'NO' (not too loud either), pull her away, and then let her latch on again. If she bit me that time, I would say 'NO', and then we'd be done nursing (at that point she was eating some solid foods so I knew she was getting enough to eat). She would sometimes cry in reaction when I'd pull down my shirt since she kind of knew she was hurting me (or maybe she wanted more milk- lol).
I would nurse her again as normal a few hours later. She would usually drink for a few minutes and then would sometimes pull the biting act again. I would just repeat the NO's, giving her only two bites before calling off the whole thing.
It did not take long for Emilie to figure out that if she bit me more than twice at each feeding, the feeding was over. She never went more than two or three feedings in a row biting me- she learned fast. The key is to be consistent, and to not react too much because it will either delight or scare your girl.
I hope this makes sense- it's different for everyone, but this simple technique worked for me. At 6 months, babies are learning so much and I think they are totally capable of figuring this out. I think my daughter went though this phase 3 or 4 times- so don't be surprised if it happens again!
And good for you for wanting to continue breastfeeding! I can't believe I'm still doing it myself, but I find it very convenient and easy (the calorie burning aspect is nice benefit too!).
THANKS GIRLS!!!!Very helpful advice. Mo, I am trying your approach as I found myself reacting and she would laugh so in a sense I was probably egging her on. Next time it will be a stern NO.
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