Ouch

Gabby is teething.

And when babies are teething? They like to BITE ON THINGS. Which means, ANYTHING you stick in their mouths gets bitten, gnawed, and chewed on. About every 3 hours, I willingly place one of my boobs in her mouth to feed her, normally, this isn’t a problem, but remember, she’s TEETHING. So, she’ll suck for a little while, then B-A-M she bites down on my nipple and starts BITING AND GNAWING AWAY. It’s a dangerous situation. If I try to pull it out, it hurts like HELL, so, I calmly say “NO, Gabby! No bitey mommies boobies!”
“What is that you say, mommy? HARDER?”

I’d switch her to a bottle in a heartbeart, were it not for the fact that she REFUSES TO DRINK FROM A BOTTLE. It’s my fault, I waited to long to introduce her to it (Like three months too long.) When we DO try to give her a bottle, she mocks it. She’s like “What is this synthetic piece of crap you’re trying to pass off as a nipple? Get that piece of rubber out of my mouth NOW, and give me my nice, soft, warm natural titty back… THANK YOU.”
I can’t remember if the boys did this, but I had stopped breastfeeding Ethan at 4 months and Andrew at 6, so probably not. However, I don’t think I can do that with Gabby because of the whole “she refuses to take a bottle” thing.
Any breastfeeding pros have any suggestions? Or must I, must MY NIPPLES live in torment every 3 hours for the next few weeks? HELP?

7 thoughts on “Ouch

  1. Emily

    Still breastfeeding my 16 month old here – all the way through 10 teeth.
    I push his face into my boob – he lets go and pushes away so he can breathe. The “latch off and say NO” thing didn’t work for him, but it did his older brother.

  2. Mieke

    I second what Amy said.
    I did the removal of the nipple in a quick jerky motion so Gabo got startled. He got it the first day that there would be no more nursies if he did it again. Each time, he tried out it came.
    Good luck.

  3. AyEnDeeAreEeAyAitch

    I have no idea because Kasey just started the same exact thing. Umm…. yeah, it hurts and yes more than a little. It also came so unexpectedly, there I was just nursing her and watching reruns of CSI then “WHAM!” a hard gum down on the old nip-nip that sent shockwaves through my body and out my toes. The only thing I could think of sayin was, “Yeeouch Little girl! Take it easy on Momma!”
    So I don’t know what to do either. Kasey does take great from a bottle when the sitter or her dad gives it to her but she prefers it straight from the source and i ain’t giving that up already so whatever good advice or news you get about it, let me know too!

  4. Jen

    I would stick my finger in the mouth to break suction (as said above) and then put him down on the floor with a loud “No!”
    I think the fact that I refused to hold them for a little bit after they did it really gave them the message because I really didn’t have problems after doing that once or twice.
    I read that in the Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, I think.
    My kids wouldn’t take bottles either.

  5. Sarcastic Journalist

    i’ve read around that she probably WON’T take the bottle from you. won’t take it if you’re even AROUND. so try to get the hubs to give it to her, and perhaps wrap one of your shirts around it so she can smell you.
    as long as “the titty” is there, she won’t take the bottle. i’ve got the opposite problemo, my kid will do the boob (gnawing, of course) and then she pulls away and LAUGHS at it.
    She laughs at my boobie. She THINKS IT IS FUNNY.

  6. Amy

    I breastfed my first for 2 years and my 2nd for 9 months… with the 1st one, every time he bit, I would put my finger in his mouth to break the suction and pull him off and firmly say, “NO!” It didn’t take long for him to realize he wasn’t allowed to do it… there were a few times where I actually ended the feeding because he thought it was a game to continue biting. I have to admit, it sucked, but we got through it and my nipples are still intact. With the 2nd one, the teething was one of the reasons I stopped nursing. 🙂

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