Need suggestions to cope with biting

[@llli*mapran]

Hi,

My DS is 11 months old. He has starting biting during nursing sessions... sometimes right at the beginning of the session itself. Sometimes after a few minutes.

He is my third child and I have nursed my other two for 18 months each. However, they never bit and I am at a loss on how to deal with this issue. So far, I'm doing two things - waiting till he is hungry to feed (previously I used to just feed him every 2-3 hrs based on my convenience/his need).

So now I am going 4 hours between feedings just to make sure he is hungry and won't bite. This has worked to the extent where he nurses for a few minutes before he bites. At this point, I change sides and then when he bites again (after a few minutes), I stop the session.

I am worried that he is not drinking enough because not only are the sessions shorter now, they are fewer a day too. How is this going to affect my supply and his weight gain?

He seems happy as usual and also takes solid food 3 times a day and drinks water.

Anything else I should be doing to make him stop biting?

[@llli*mapran]

Thanks expat-mum for your response. I am not sure if teething is the issue. He already has four teeth and is probably working on the next ones. However, he is not fussy or irritable nor does he seem in pain. When he bites me, it seems like more of a game since he grins widely when I react in pain. Is that typical teething behavior?

[@llli*phi]

If it were me, I'd unlatch immediately (if I couldn't keep him from clamping down in the first place by pulling him closer in), wait a minute or two (put him down, maybe) and offer again, while verbally (gently) reinforcing that it's not ok to bite mommy.

At that age I needed to get really firm on the biting issue with my son because he started thinking that biting was hilarious. As soon as he bit, I set him down and told him that biting hurts. Then I actually needed to get up and walk away from him for 30 seconds - 1 minute, otherwise he would just pull himself up and grab at me while laughing. There was some crying during that 0.5-1 minute, but it was the only way for him to understand that biting isn't a game. I would then offer to nurse again after that. I took a week or two, but he hasn't bitten since even during some really nasty teething spells.