A few weeks ago I was talking about a fact that, fortunately, has not been repeated. The baby bites the nipples while breastfeeding, and the mother at best sees the stars and jumps with an inevitable scream.
Coincidentally I found in the section of frequently asked questions about breastfeeding in the Spanish Association of Pediatrics a section referring to bites in the nipples and how to act.
These, along with the comments to the referred post, will help mothers not to despair and that the baby does not bite the breast to avoid pain. The best way is based on 3 “ingredients”:
- Say no! Dry and clear (verbal message).
- To put a serious face looking at your face.
- Remove the chest from the mouth (but without removing it from the lap).
Nonverbal messages (gestures) reinforce the verbal and help the baby understand. After all, he is small and does not know that it hurts, for him it is an exploratory game. Some babies get scared and they cry if the “no!” is very dry and the face is very serious, so you have to try to control this point.
But from my experience and what you said in the previous post, what scares them the most is the shout and the start that we can give. In that case we must comfort them, embrace them, although without immediately breastfeeding.
The AEP recommends waiting for them to calm down before breastfeeding, to repeat the message, if necessary, a little more gently. Then he is offered again and he says "don't bite." It is usually necessary to repeat, but in a few sessions they learn the lesson.
They realize that the game Mom doesn't like it, and soon they forget the bites with these tips for the baby not to bite the nipples while breast.
