Having coped with difficulties at the initial stage of feeding, some mothers soon face the problem again - the child bites the breast. Why does he do this? Typically, children bite the breast during the period when they are teething. This is how kids try to relieve itchy gums. From about three months of age, babies begin to play with their mother's breast, developing new skills. Naturally, mothers have a question - how to wean the baby from biting during feeding, while maintaining breastfeeding?
Why does a baby bite the nipple when feeding - reasons
Young children who have not yet cut their teeth may bite the nipple when feeding, squeezing it with their gums. Psychologists say that this is how children learn about the world around them and show curiosity. They are wondering what will happen if they press their mother’s breasts hard – will they take it away or not? Such interest is closely related to the psycho-emotional development of the child.
Babies as young as three months old may chew on the nipple even if they are hungry. This is how they play with their breasts. While playing, babies look at their mother, smile at her, while biting the nipple and moving it from side to side. These activities help the child gain new skills. He masters the movements of his lips and tongue. If your child behaves this way, rest assured that he is just having fun. Don't worry about your milk being bad or not enough.
What should a mother do to prevent her baby from biting?
You need to show the baby that you don’t like this behavior. This can be done by briefly weaning the breast. In this case, you need to make a stern face and calmly but seriously say: “You can’t!” Mom is in pain because of the bite, so Dima (Yanya) will no longer receive milk.” Despite the baby's dissatisfaction, try not to breastfeed him for at least 10-15 minutes. Repeat this every time. After some time (two or three times), the child will understand what happens after he bites his mother’s breast: the mother is unhappy, the breast is inaccessible. The toddler is not happy with both of these options, so he will try not to bite you again! It happens that the nipple is bitten until it bleeds. In this case, you should not give the sore breast to the baby until the blood clots and turns into a scratch (otherwise the baby will swallow your blood, which is not good).
Teething
Teething children experience pain. They constantly chew on something, trying to get rid of unpleasant sensations. Mother's breasts can be used for these purposes. And the baby’s teething teeth are sharp as knives! And the jaws are so strong! The baby is teething, and it goes without saying that the child wants to understand why this something appeared in his mouth. Therefore, the baby bites everything during this period. But this doesn’t make it any easier for mom.
How to proceed?
If your baby has swollen gums, give him a special teething toy before feeding. It can be bought at any pharmacy. Let the baby scratch his gums as much as he needs. After that, offer him your breast. It is advisable to interrupt feeding several times so that the baby can use the teether again. When another tooth comes in, lubricate your child’s inflamed gums with a special anesthetic gel before you start feeding.
teether
Nose is not breathing
When a baby has a stuffy nose, he experiences discomfort when sucking. At the same time, he can direct his dissatisfaction to his mother’s breast, because, being in his mouth, it prevents him from breathing. One way to correct something or show that he is uncomfortable is to bite his mother's nipple.
How to help a child?
If your baby has a runny nose, clean his nasal passages with an aspirator before feeding, removing any secretions. Apply it vertically to your chest, in this position it will be easier for the baby to breathe.
You're applying it to your chest incorrectly.
If during breastfeeding the mother is distracted by something else - talking on her mobile phone or watching TV, the baby may slip from the correct grip on the breast. In this case, the mother's nipple is no longer deep in the baby's mouth. The baby will definitely let his mother know that he has become uncomfortable eating.
What to do?
You can correct the situation if you constantly monitor how the baby takes the breast. It’s correct when the baby’s lips grab the areola around the nipple, while the tongue lies on the lower jaw, protruding slightly forward.
Read also: How to properly attach a baby to the breast
Baby doesn't want to eat
If the baby is already full and no longer wants to suckle, he can simply play with it. According to some mothers, their children begin to bite the nipple when the milk in the breast is over. Sometimes a child does this when he falls asleep or, carried away by something, turns his head to the side.
Also, a child may bite the breast due to a lack of milk; the baby has a desire to experiment with the mother’s reaction and attract attention due to the constant use of rubber pacifiers and nipples.
Teething
One of the main reasons why a child may start biting is teething. While he does not have a single tooth, he will grab the nipple with his gums and pull, which is also quite painful. The eruption of the first teeth can leave the mother with such unpleasant consequences as biting the breast, wounds on the nipples. The situation will worsen if the woman also has cracks from feeding.
Since it is impossible to stop the process of teeth coming out, it is necessary to relieve the painful sensations that lead to the child biting the breast.
Special cooling and pain-relieving gels will help in this matter. You can use teethers, rubber toys, crackers, apples and any safe objects as a chewer.
How should a mother react when her baby bites her breast?
If a baby bites his mother's nipple for the first time, he does not understand what he did. However, the mother feels pain at this moment. Her natural reaction is to scream or sharply pull the nipple out of the child’s mouth, she may scream at the child and scold him (this is useless, he is not to blame and did not bite you on purpose). Although it is quite difficult to restrain oneself, such behavior when a child bites the breast should not be allowed under any circumstances. Hearing the mother's cry, the baby may become very frightened and then refuse the breast altogether. It is also impossible to abruptly remove the nipple from the baby’s mouth; such a movement can easily injure the skin even more than with a bite. If the baby has squeezed the nipple with his teeth, you need to try to free the breast as soon as possible.
How to release the breast if the child has bitten it?
- Do not pull out the nipple under any circumstances - there is a high risk of damaging the skin even more, especially if the child already has several teeth;
- Press the baby so that he buries his nose into your chest. In this position, it is difficult for the child to breathe and even bite the chest. To take a breath, he will have to open his mouth. Some mothers prefer to gently pinch their baby's nose so that he opens his mouth and releases the nipple. Although personally to me (Razakhatskaya Natalya) the method with the little finger seems less stressful;
- Very carefully insert your little finger into the corner of the child’s mouth and slowly spread his jaws apart. Without removing your finger, release your chest;
- Lightly press your thumb on your baby's chin. When he opens his mouth, pull out the nipple.
Lightly press your thumb on your baby's chin. When he opens his mouth, pull out the nipple
How to stop your baby from biting the breast while feeding
In order to stop all the child’s attempts to bite while feeding, the mother needs to show him that he cannot play with the breast. Try a few of the techniques below.
The child's greatest fear is to be left without his mother's breast. This fact should be used to stop any attempts to bite the nipple while sucking. If your baby bites you, take the breast from him, look sternly into his eyes, and calmly say the word “no” or “no.” The child may not understand the lesson the first time, but if this happens again and again, he will remember the actions repeated by his mother - if he bites, he loses his breast.
When the child, despite your “no,” continues to play with the nipple, biting it again and again, take the breast away from him and put him on the crib. Having lost his breast for a few minutes, the baby will realize that his mother did not like his behavior.
If the breast asks again, we apply it again. If he bites, we put it aside, explain and leave the room. This must also be done calmly, without strong emotions. This way we show that we don’t want to communicate when the child behaves this way. We come back in a minute, calm her down, and offer her breasts. If she starts to cry a lot, you can immediately go in, take her in your arms, calm her down, but nevertheless do it without feeling guilty, with inner confidence that you are right.
But be prepared for the fact that after a few days the child will want to once again verify the seriousness of your intentions. It will be necessary to try to remember and repeat exactly the same reaction so that the child becomes bored with experimenting in this direction
