15 mth old biting at the end of every feed

[Snoopee]

Hi all,

My 15 month olds nurses on average 3-4 times a day. She is currently teething but it doesn't seem to be causing her any great discomfort. She has recently started to bite down very hard at the end of each feed and it is becoming very painful for me. When she has done this in the past when she was younger, I would take her off mid feed and she soon got the message and stopped. As she is only doing it at the end of feeds, I'm at a bit of a loss at what to do. I've tried telling her firmly not to do it but she just seems to think it's hilarious! I just wandered if anyone had been through something similar or has any ideas as to why she's doing it or what I can do to stop it. Tia xx

 

[MrsPear]

I wonder if she's just biting because she's finished, I think that's quite common and Joni definitely did it. Are her feeds roughly the same length each day? If so you could unlatch her after that amount of time when you know she's almost finished, and hopefully catch her before she bites.

 

[Snoopee]

Thanks for replying. I agree, I think she might be doing it just to let me know she's finished. She doesn't always feed for the same length of time. sometimes it's just a quick snack, others it's a big feed. Maybe I should look out for cues for when she's nearly done then and unlatch her. Didn't think I'd be needing to start using the nipple cream again 15 months in! Thanks again xx

 

[Nikki_d72]

I think she may be letting you know she's done but you want to stop that becoming her signal! I would avoid telling her off as she will be loving getting the reaction, she is learning cause and effect and you don't want it to be on you this way... My boy did it a bit too but at an earlier stage and he thought it was really funny if I yelped (hard not to), the advise I followed was to to watch carefully for slowing in the sucking and pulling back a bit off the nipple, as they shouldn't be able to bite if it's way down their throat and get them off before they have the chance. Don't react at any cost and praise gentle nursing. If she bites just try to hold in the reaction, unlatch and say OK you don't want to nurse just now, or whatever you feel fits you and try later. She may be less likely to do it when she's sleepy but you just have to stay vigilant. It usually passes in a couple of weeks. Is she maybe getting annoyed when the milk is finished? Maybe listen hard for rhythmical swallowing to stop too and take her off then to avoid the bite trigger. You may have to pump a wee bit to keep supply going if you feel you are stopping her sucking as much as normal, to stop the problem getting worse if it is indeed temper on her part but it should only be temporary. LLLI website has great info as does Kellymom on biting. HTH