I saw this question posted by one mummy in a breastfeeding group I joined in Facebook "After BF for 7 months, my LO started to bite my nipples. Not sure if it is the caused of teething but it is very painful for me to continue BF. How to stop that? I've tried telling her (not sure if she understands ^^) and putting my last finger at the side of her mouth to open when she bites but that only lasts a while. Any mommies encounter this before? Its supper painful that I'm afraid to let her latch on now."
My immediate reply was:
"Lightly smacks her mouth with 2-3 of your fingers, must look serious and tell her immediately 'Ouch! That hurts mummy!' Give her a few seconds to think what happen (withdraw your breasts at this point), little children are very smart! After a while they will make the connection that if they bite = mummy pain = no nen-nen (aka breastmilk)"
Another idea you may try is lightly insert your pinky finger into their mouth in order to open up their mouth, do your gentlest to pull out your nipple. I normally do this when our kiddos fell asleep while nursing.
**** NOTE: For those who thinks my tip of smacking = abuse, please note that I said 'Lightly smacks'. In this sense, you use 2-3 of your fingers and pat your child's mouth. Just annoys me when people read the word 'smack' and immediately screams abuse! Weirdos...
Smack, warning with serious face, give them few seconds to reflect what they did...
With Ben (he's 39 months old now), I only have to do the above twice, the second time was because I was slow and he was really really hungry and accidentally bit me. Since then, no more biting episodes, even now that he is still nursing from me once a day before bedtime, he remembers and knows the rules!
As for Alyson (she's 9 months old now), I had to do this so far about 3 times and as of today, she has never bit me anymore and she's growing her 4th tooth (upper) at the moment. The last time I smacked Alyson's mouth after she bit me REALLY hard (I can actually see her tooth marks - bottom 2 teeth), I was and actually looked at her angrily and I can immediately see her face turning from playful into shock, then remorse and then she started crying. I had to calm her down after that but since then and so far, no more biting episodes.
So yes, new mums, you have to be firm and serious in disciplining your breastfeeding child if you want to spare your nipples from anymore biting incident. You CANNOT scold and smile at your child at the same time. They will not be able to know that you are serious and meant that it hurts if you are smiling at them. Or immediately offered your breast back at them.
I hope the above tips help!
How about you? Any tips to add on that you can share?
