Anyone Else Nervous about Teeth?

[l_Kimmie_l]

I have hit 7 months of nursing and know that this is around the time my babies start teething. I am nervous about biting. My last baby bit me a few times and it made me so nervous that I switched to exclusively pumping. I would tense up so bad.

I am now in a fantastic nursing relationship with my last baby after a really rocky start. Now he finally only will take a boob and will not take a bottle at all anymore. I worry about him biting and what to do to stop it. I do not remember DS2 biting, but he was delayed. I so hope this guy can make it through the teething phase with as minimal biting as possible.

[TJR2119]

I nursed ds until 14months and dd until 23 months! DS bit me once and it hurt and I automatically yelped out "OW!!!!" I unintentionally scared him but he never did it again.

With dd she sometimes bit me to get a rise out of me. She would look right at my face and be latched on but stop suckling. Whenever she bit me I would unlatch her and put her down for a couple of minutes and tell her "No biting!" or something like that. Eventually she associated biting with me cutting our nursing session and she stopped. Keep in mind she nursed on demand so she wouldn't have to wait hours until her next feeding, but it was enough to let her know I was not happy when she bit me.

[quietsong]

I did the same as the last poster with both my boys who nursed. As soon as he bites, I unlatch and set him down with a stern "Ouch! No biting!" I don't let him nurse for at least a couple minutes. Both boys figured it out after only a couple times.

[TwinKristi]

My ds only bites when he's teething and tired now, but when he first did it I did the same as above. He's 11mos and only has his 2 bottom teeth. I heard you can try shields too?

[l_Kimmie_l]

Thanks - I am hoping I do not tense up like last time. It really ruined the whole thing. I am trying to prepare myself this time. I am hoping that this one will not bite, but he has bit down before and plays with the booby already.

[crunch!910]

DS is 7 months old on the 12th of this month, has two bottom teeth, and I cannot for the life of me get the bitting to stop! For the past two months I've been unlatchinghim and ending the feeding, as well as yelping! Just over the past week the biting has been getting worse (he's not teething or tired when he's doing this - in fact, he's least likely to bite when tired and nursing to sleep) so I've been forced to take more drastic measures. I've been punishing him by pushing his own lip onto this sharp teeth. I was expecting this to cure the problem for good, but it hasn't.

[BubBubsMom]

Yelling ouch helped me. He has only bit me 3 times and that was when he first started getting teeth. One time he hurt so bad and I yelled and he started crying. I think he knew he hurt me but hadn't done it since. Good luck. Try not to be tense about it cause I'm sure they can sense that

[qsefthuko]

I jumped and slapped my daughter. Not hard mind you. I never intended to do that but it was my knee jerk I am in pain reaction. With my boys I did do a firm but gentle two finger tap on the cheek. This seemed to do the trick for them.

[PerfectFifth]

OP, if your kiddo starts biting because of the teething pain, you can try letting him chew on something cold/frozen to numb his gums a little bit before you nurse. We also did the unlatch and put him down thing like PP suggested. GL, biting is not fun at all!

[edgbar]

I agree with above, I have nursed two of my children and both had short lived biting phases. Actually my son, when he was a newborn, would sometimes do something that felt like he was literally twisting the nipple (sorry if that's too much info!) and it was excruciatingly painful. For the biting, I also broke the latch, said ouch, told them firmly no bite. It only took a few yelps and the loss of the nursing sessions to break them of the habit. GL!