Karleen, has brought this up before, and I never did get anything posted, so
here is my two bits' worth on it!  It was a problem with Julia (adopted at
six months, did not start nursing for five more months).  She had started
chewing on bottle nipples at some point, after I had gotten her
bottlefeeding, and off of the gastrostomy.  I had tried to discourage her
from doing this, for more than one reason, including the hope that I would
some day figure out how to get her nursing.  She had done it less, but not
stopped completely.  Since she was SO easily upset (like most babies who
have been through a great deal of trauma), I knew that, if I ever got her to
take my breast, I would have to be prepared to stay calm if she bit me.
Being startled and jumping, like when Thomas, who started nursing at two
weeks old, bit me, was not an option!

After I had finally gotten the idea of threading the supplementer tube
through a bottle nipple, and gotten her feeding much like nursing, except
with that directly over my breast, I started to talk to myself about what I
felt was the inevitable biting that she would do, once we finally made it to
the breast.  I knew I had to be prepared to control my reaction.  By the
time she finally accepted the breast, she had 16 teeth, and she did bite me!
  However, I had learned to watch her carefully for it, so that I could be
better prepared.  When she did, I would confine my reaction to gritting my
teeth, but remain calm, from what she could see!  The first few times I ever
got her to take my breast, I was afraid that if I interrupted her at all she
may not take it back.  After all I had been through to get her to that
point, the fear of spoiling it all was enough to allow me to put up with a
fair amount of pain!  However, after she had been nursing well for a couple
days I started to immediately put my finger in the side of her mouth and
unlatch her, sit her up, and calmly say "No, no, Honey, you can't bite
Mommy!", and then let her latch on again.  It only took a few times doing
this and she stopped biting, except for once in a great while.

To sum it up, not all babies are going to react the same way, but I think
there are two general rules for dealing with biting, for any mom who is
teaching an older baby to nurse: discourage biting on bottle nipples, and be
prepared to control her reaction, if the baby does bite her, especially if
her baby has experienced alot of trauma.

Hope that helps someone!

Darillyn


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