Biting and pinching - my poor breasts!!
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Topic: Biting and pinching - my poor breasts!!
Posted By: T_Rex
Subject: Biting and pinching - my poor breasts!!
Date Posted: 14 July 2010 at 9:37am
DD started biting about a month ago. I've tried saying no firmly, unlatching her and putting her on the floor, I've tried (unintentionally  ) screaming very loudly and putting her on the floor. I've tried ignoring it. Nothing seems to be working. She sometimes bites at the beginning of a feed, sometimes at the end, sometimes just randomly. Last night we were in the bath and she was playing with a flannel on my chest when she randomly leaned over, clamped down and pulled   (I wondered if she was trying to bite it off?!?). She has 2 very sharp little teeth and that left me bleeding from a big long gash
She's not far off having 2 top teeth to go with it, and I'm terrified what will happen to my poor nipples then. Any more ideas? Or is it a phase? How long did it take your baby to get the idea that biting is not ok? I'd really like to get this sorted before anymore teeth appear. Her other nasty nasty habit is to pinch, really hard. Often on my breast just around the nipple (you know those lovely photos of babies resting their hands on the breast, well imagine mine with her hands pinching and twisting in the same spot  ). She also does it on my chest and neck or any skin she can get a hold of, and not just to me. Its pretty sore (not as bad as biting my nipples till they bleed, but still very unpleasant!). I wonder if it's to do with BLW, as she's learn very quickly to hold food really well and she's practising her grabbing on me too? Would love some suggestions there too. Should I be trying to fix it at the same time as the biting, or deal with the biting first?
She has also just started in daycare last week, but both of these habits started before then. ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
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Replies:
Posted By: Shezamumof3
Date Posted: 14 July 2010 at 11:32am
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Im not sure about the biting as my DD only did a few times, and that was before she had teeth, then she self weaned at 7 months.
But she used to pinch and grab at the skin round my nipple  I used to get her to hold my finger instead or keep moving her hand to my top, or give her something to hold while she fed.
If her nails had got a bit long, O.M.G, it hurt, I had scrach marks all the time from her grabbing and pinching. ------------- |
Posted By: AandCsmum
Date Posted: 14 July 2010 at 11:48am
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Wonder if her teeth are bothering her? ------------- Kel http://lilypie.com"> 
A = 01.02.04 & C = 16.01.09 & G = 30.03.12 |
Posted By: High9
Date Posted: 14 July 2010 at 11:48am
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Lily does the grabbing, pinching and scratching. I try get her to play with my top or my finger.
Not looking forward to teeth, she doesn't really bite me yet, just nips occasionally  ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: nuts_nats
Date Posted: 14 July 2010 at 12:01pm
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Oh ouch! Thats terrible T_Rex, sounds sooo sore
Poor boobies, you'd think they had been through enough with 7 months of BF! DD does the pinching and twisting, her little hands are always busy when she is feeding and I haven't found a way to discourage this yet. So I will be watching this thread for suggestions! I've just tried to manage it by keeping her nails very short so they don't scratch and giving her feeds when she is wrapped before or after a sleep. I hope its a stage! ------------- http://lilypie.com">  
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Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 14 July 2010 at 12:04pm
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Both DD and DS have done this With Ds I've discovered that wearing a necklace thats safe for them to play with is really good at distracting him. Or you could try a piece of fabric for them to play with, that worked for DD
HTH 
ETA thats mostly for the pinching. I found it was teeth playing up that caused DD to bite |
Posted By: High9
Date Posted: 14 July 2010 at 12:28pm
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Lily broke the clasp on my necklace 2 days ago! ------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: MamaT
Date Posted: 14 July 2010 at 1:00pm
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I can't help with the biting thing, Cooper does this to me and boy does it hurt, but he doesn't have teeth yet so I imagine your pain is a million times worse. Nothing seems to deter him from it.
As for the pinching hands, I either nurse him when he's wrapped (which helps with distraction too) or hold his hand or let him play with my necklace. I got one of those teething necklaces from baby city that you can wear for them to play with. He doesn't chew on it, but is always tugging on it when nursing.
Good luck, hopefully it is just a phase that disappears soon enough for you -------------  
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Posted By: nztui
Date Posted: 14 July 2010 at 2:28pm
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Ouch! I had same problem with the first 4 teeth coming through and DD would only feed without biting if she was really relaxed. We ended up altering our feeding pattern during that time, usually bedtime feed was the worst so I tried to express what I could then instead and fed more at nighttime. I tried all the recommended tips and nothign really worked for us. But we got through it!
Didn't have the same problem for most of the other teeth (we have 16 now), although the last eye tooth we had 2 days with the odd bite but nothing as bad as those first teeth. Try everything you can to ease her teeth and lots of things to bite on instead in the day, otherwise try and anticipate when she's likely to bite and have a finger ready to ease her off - good luck! |
Posted By: SMoody
Date Posted: 14 July 2010 at 2:37pm
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Yip McKayla did the biting thing. She quickly learned when I yelped and put her on the floor. I use to watch her very carefully and they have to change their mouth to go down and bite and I would break the latch before she could bite. That lasted a month.
It helps to put something on the teeth before feeding too. (like bonjela or something.) Andrew does the biting and pinching thing. It is definately teeth and he finds me hilarious with jumping up when he pinches (it is freaking sore). So I try not to react. What works for us is to get something to keep their hands busy. Like I play with his one hand. Or even some toy to keep their hands busy. I got these big beads on a chain that he loves playing while drinking. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: mummyofprinces
Date Posted: 14 July 2010 at 5:22pm
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Jake only bites when he is teething... and then the grazing once the tooth comes in until he readjusts his latch.. though my nipples are quite sensitive for obvious reasons so I think I just feel the teeth more now...
He didnt respond to any of the normal tactics so I would just take off and tell him no, he would laugh and quite happily continue on without finishing the feed.. he just stopped of his own accord when the teething finished. It was horrible! He does grab at my chest, I have constant scratch marks and it blarrddy hurts.. but this seems to have phases as he hasnt done it for a while. He hasnt learnt empathy yet.. when does that kick in??? -------------   
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Posted By: T_Rex
Date Posted: 14 July 2010 at 5:54pm
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Thanks ladies. I think it is related to her teeth coming in but was worried it'd be the same for all 18 still to come! If its likely to ease after the first 4 teeth I can cope with that!
I can distract her hands with my hands, but that's my ohbaby time so I need my hands to type  I'll try the necklace idea.------------- http://lilypie.com"> http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: Nutella
Date Posted: 20 October 2010 at 8:47pm
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Hmm, DS has just started biting again, he did it for a while but stopped when I kept taking him off.
Then he usually did it at the end of the feed. Now he is doing it all the time, like just start having a feed and he will do it. Big flipping joke even though I have been stopping him doing it and putting him on the floor etc. I was wondering if this is a sign that he is starting to self wean or is he just being a dork coz his teeth are bothering him? I think his next lot of teeth are coming through (numbers 9 onwards) but it is hard to check with all those teeth at the front lol. I am starting to dread BF and seriously considering weaning him off if he carries on, especially if he is trying to tell me he doesn't want boobie anymore (boo hoo had a wail just before thinking about it)...any wise suggestions? ------------- 
 Oct 11
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Posted By: MrsMc
Date Posted: 21 October 2010 at 9:25pm
ouch hugs  that sounds so painful!!
it sounds like you're doing everything right. hopefully it will improve when the top teeth come through as maybe theyre sore. I agree on using a necklace to distract her from pinching |