Comments on: Jaws – ie: My Biting Baby http://www.capetownmom.com/feeding/biting-baby/ A voice on motherhood in the mother city Sun, 07 Aug 2011 11:22:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: bronwyn http://www.capetownmom.com/feeding/biting-baby/comment-page-1/#comment-17 bronwyn Mon, 11 May 2009 11:04:47 +0000 http://www.capetownmom.com/?p=107#comment-17 Well, what I did worked well. He got the "No biting" pretty quickly. He gave me a shocked looked everytime I said it, as in "whoa, that's a voice I haven't heard before" and then we carried on the feed with no further incidents. I haven't had a bite in a while now. Grrrreat! You're right Kerry! A stitch in time...saves a sore nipple! Well, what I did worked well. He got the “No biting” pretty quickly. He gave me a shocked looked everytime I said it, as in “whoa, that’s a voice I haven’t heard before” and then we carried on the feed with no further incidents. I haven’t had a bite in a while now. Grrrreat!

You’re right Kerry! A stitch in time…saves a sore nipple!

]]> By: Kerry http://www.capetownmom.com/feeding/biting-baby/comment-page-1/#comment-15 Kerry Mon, 11 May 2009 05:28:38 +0000 http://www.capetownmom.com/?p=107#comment-15 oooh, I'm going to try that! Amber doesn't have teeth yet, but she definitely bites! One of her favourite moves at the moment it to try to look around while latched on, then it pulls out a bit so she's learnt that if the bites it stays in her mouth for longer while she's viewing the world around her... not as much fun for me, I'm afraid! oooh, I’m going to try that! Amber doesn’t have teeth yet, but she definitely bites! One of her favourite moves at the moment it to try to look around while latched on, then it pulls out a bit so she’s learnt that if the bites it stays in her mouth for longer while she’s viewing the world around her… not as much fun for me, I’m afraid!

]]> By: Davina http://www.capetownmom.com/feeding/biting-baby/comment-page-1/#comment-10 Davina Sat, 09 May 2009 06:34:01 +0000 http://www.capetownmom.com/?p=107#comment-10 I also had a biting baby! She's now 15 months and has gone through two biting stages. The first was probably around 6 months (I don't remember all that clearly - I've blurred out the memory ;)). When they bite, what you should do is pull them close so that you block their nose and they have to let go to breathe. Well, that's in theory, at least. Anyway, what I found did work was a Very firm (some times almost shrieking) "No! Don't bite! That hurts Mommy!". They understand the tone, if not the words. And then, most importantly, put them down and walk away. No more feeding at the point. The baby cries as if you've just cut her throat. But even if you just walk out the room and back in, they soon learn to associate biting with the "food source" walking out. My baby only bit for about a week before she decided it wasn't worth having mommy walk out. The second biting stage was a lot more recently, at about a year old. The little wriggler would be so interested in the world around her that she'd latch on, suck, let go, look around, remember she was feeding and latch back on like a suction cup. And often in that latching back on she'd accidentally bite slightly. And because I knew it was accidently, I let it slide. Big mistake! She'd get a surprise at my gasp of pain, look up at me out of the corner of her eye, and very slowly, very deliberately, clamp down! "Look, Mommy, I can get the same reaction out of you again!" Then, of course, I go through the whole putting down process, but it just didn't seem to work. It took me a while to learn my lesson, but I then decided to shout and put her down after that first accidental bite. And guess what - it worked! I guess that first bite wasn't that accidental after all... I also had a biting baby! She’s now 15 months and has gone through two biting stages.
The first was probably around 6 months (I don’t remember all that clearly – I’ve blurred out the memory ;) ). When they bite, what you should do is pull them close so that you block their nose and they have to let go to breathe. Well, that’s in theory, at least. Anyway, what I found did work was a Very firm (some times almost shrieking) “No! Don’t bite! That hurts Mommy!”. They understand the tone, if not the words. And then, most importantly, put them down and walk away. No more feeding at the point. The baby cries as if you’ve just cut her throat. But even if you just walk out the room and back in, they soon learn to associate biting with the “food source” walking out. My baby only bit for about a week before she decided it wasn’t worth having mommy walk out.
The second biting stage was a lot more recently, at about a year old. The little wriggler would be so interested in the world around her that she’d latch on, suck, let go, look around, remember she was feeding and latch back on like a suction cup. And often in that latching back on she’d accidentally bite slightly. And because I knew it was accidently, I let it slide. Big mistake! She’d get a surprise at my gasp of pain, look up at me out of the corner of her eye, and very slowly, very deliberately, clamp down! “Look, Mommy, I can get the same reaction out of you again!” Then, of course, I go through the whole putting down process, but it just didn’t seem to work. It took me a while to learn my lesson, but I then decided to shout and put her down after that first accidental bite. And guess what – it worked! I guess that first bite wasn’t that accidental after all…

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