02/06/2021
Thank you again to Waetie Sanaa Cooper Burnette of Breastpowered for wonderful advice around what to do when baby bites during breastfeeding!
Intro: "What should you do if your baby bites you while breastfeeding? (Spolier Alert: Pinching your baby is not the answer as some believe). " .....Read more in the post.
What should you do if your baby bites you while breastfeeding? (Spolier Alert: Pinching your baby is not the answer as some believe).
This common question arises more frequently by people who don't have breastfeeding children than anyone else. The false idea that children should be cut off of breastfeeding once they begin to cut teeth is based on people without expertise or experience repeatedly sharing their anxieties about this matter with others who then pass the inaccurate message on.
In reality, some babies do bite, but not for any of the reasons people tend to think. Babies are not biting because of some innate desire to chew food that is suddenly emerging nor are they biting down out of any malice towards the breast or parent.
What is more likely is that the child is teething and seeking relief. In this case, there are many appropriate remedies for teething that will spare you this experience.
Another possibility is distraction. How many of us have swallowed incorrectly or bitten our tongues or our own cheeks when eating while either in deep thought or while engrossed in something else that drew our attention away from the task of chewing.
A highly common reason a baby might bite is also sickness due to a cold or ear infection. Either or both can make it difficult to swallow with a blocked nose.
But, ultimately, the first step to remedy this situation is the same. By breaking the seal of your baby's mouth from around your ni**le, saying, "no biting," and then checking in via observation you can figure out what else might be happening.
Even young babies can begin to learn by experience that whenever I bite, I lose the opportunity to breastfeed. How long and how many times you may need to repeat the lesson will vary by baby and temperament, of course. But this is the most basic way of teaching using natural consequences from the very beginning. This method is effective at helping to train your baby about what they can expect from you.
Pinching, poking, and so many other negative responses which are commonly used to punish the baby for biting do not set the foundation for the kind of solid, trusting relationship that you want to establish from the beginning. Instilling feelings of fear, doubt, and anxiety around an action that is not willful and which may be a nonverbal sign of ill health is the height of miscommunication. We can all try to do better from the start!!
Waetie-Sanaa Cooper Burnette
