Breastfeeding - when baby bites.

I was told I would not feel it.... I have to tell you that was soooooo wrong.....

I gave up breastfeeding the minute I saw blood on my nipple... He was fine and went straight to the bottle. I tried to breastfeed as long as I could but as I said when I saw blood that was it. My nipples were so painful, and really I just could not handle it anymore. My son had to go cold Turkey or I was afraid that the next bite he took I may have dropped him from the pain... 

I stopped in the morning and by night he was taking his bottle.  

My daughter experimented with nipping during a feed when she was about 8 months old and had her first tooth. She gently nipped me and smiled. I did the *worst* possible thing and smiled at her. So she did it again, really gently. We both smiled and it was a lovely moment. Silly woman. How much positive reinforcement was that? So, she started doing it more often, and then started biting. Hard. Now I wasn't smiling. I decided to try and stop it by taking her off the breast each time. I could tell she was really upset andbreast feeding went  from a time of bonding to where she almost refused to feed for about 24 hours.  She continued to give me a hard bite most feeds - she would regularly start and stop and this came somewhere in between. I managed to continue for another fortnight from this point (she was 9 1/2 months) but found that I was bleeding after each feed and, linked with a really bad cold where she was struggling, I found it was an ideal time to wean.

My son has six teeth at 7 months. He is a nipple feeder and never latches brilliantly, but the milk is so strong he gets enough for him not to worry. Down side is that he does gnaw slightly when feeding. I began to get sore in one place (he only feeds on one side so no respite) and have found that if I feed lying down occasionally, this moves his teeth round to a different place and its not so uncomfortable. This means I can keep going a bit longer. He doesn't seem anywhere near ready to stop, so here's hoping...

I was bitten a couple of times when my son got distracted. But you're right, it doesn't happen while actually feeding. For me, another thing that got uncomfortable was the the feeling of sharp teeth. While nursing a few times, I felt as though someone was pressing a serated knife on me. It didn't cut, and it didn't pinch, but it was just there and uncomfortable.