Ouch! Biting and Breastfeeding

Was I in for a surprise! Sam suddenly began biting me out of nowhere! Breastfeeding was going fine for many months. No biting ever (except one day when he got a tooth). Then about two weeks ago he began to bite me occasionally when nursing, either during latching on, or when he's finished feeding. Then it progressed into much more biting. So much so that I just give up latching him on since he was biting me several times even before nursing. The only mostly-unaffected feeding was the one at 5-6 am. Since he was mostly asleep then, he didn't bite, only at the end (to signal "feeding time over" I guess?).

Anyway, I don't believe he is teething anymore as he's gotten whatever teeth should be in at this point. The two year molars area doesn't look inflamed or anything. He got the other molars already.

Weirdly enough, Sam didn't seem to mind not nursing at all. It bothered me more than it bothered him! He's not a demandy type of kid so he never really asks me to nurse. It's just part of the routine and he's happy to nurse. If I removed him, he was totally cool with that. Also, at the bedtime feeding he isn't very hungry, nor is he at the wake-up feeding. Those were mainly for enjoyment reasons (on both our parts).

Those few nights he went to bed without nursing beforehand, nursed well in the early AM, and then took a few sips in the AM when waking up for real.

Also it didn't help that this all happened during the part of the month where it takes me longer to get a letdown (ovulation time). I know I can stimulate to get a letdown and only then attempt to latch him on, but I didn't even bother.

It didn't look like he really needed the feedings either and frankly, it would be easier to not nurse to sleep. And it was really great to see him enjoying way more solid foods. But honestly it did bother me knowing I'll no longer be able to keep breastfeeding in my arsenal of illness-prevention/fighting.

I thought at the time: Is this just my baby's method of weaning? Or will he "come back"? I'm not making myself crazy to get him back and all that, especially since this is a decent time to wean, but it would be nice if it did.

What did I do? The first few times he bit me, I yelled at him and gave his hand a little pinch. That just scared him off for the next few feedings - he was too frightened to even latch on, poor thing! Bad association. Classical conditioning gone wrong. Then I decided to pretend I was injected with a numbing agent. I did not flinch, I did not smile back at him when he grinned after a chomp well done. I looked as relaxed as I normally look while enjoying ice cream. That must have been what did it. My lack of reaction seemed to make biting a "boring" thing - yay!

I'm glad to report that after a few days of this nonsense, Sam went back to nursing normally (and thus eating less solids).