Breastfeeding, Please Help!

Thanks so much for the post. I have a 6.5 month old and the same thing just started. He has had teeth since he was 4 month but the front top teeth just came in. He is not biting but his latch has caused a small blister. I like the idea of the head tilt. I have lightly pulled his chin back with my thumb which worked a bit. Keep me posted on what ends up working for you.

Alice, all three of my girls had to be re-taught as their mouths changed and teeth came in. You get used to just sitting down and getting started after a number of months of routine, and you don't notice when the latch slowly starts to change.
You should not feel baby's teeth, because his tongue should be laying down flat along him bottom jaw and his mouth should be open in a wide "O". The usual culprit for my girls was not opening wide enough, so I had to tease them a little to get them to really open up. After two or three days of vigilance and a bit of soreness, the latch was re-taught and the pain was gone. Don't give up! You just have to make adjustments.

this happened to me, w/ both my sons.
they didn't bite me, but the way the teeth/tooth was coming in was at a bad angle/spot and I had a GASH! I went to the lactation consultant, too! it was 'just' an odd time period before the tooth came into where it would be and, in the meantime, I had a open sore!
what I figured out to do is to find a position where the tooth scraped a different part and I then a different part- I got quite creative w/ him backwards, me lying down a different way on the bed, etc! but it DID pass and I'm here to tell the tales, LOL! I breastfed them both to 15 months...

Is there a lactation nurse connected with the hospital where you gave birth? That would be an excellent place to go for advice. Or if there is a La Leche League nearby, they would be great source of advice. I breastfed all of my children until they were at least a year old, my oldest daughter is still nursing her 26 month old son. There may be an issue with his "latch", our youngest daughters 5 week old nurses using his gums instead of his lips...and this question of yours had caused me to tell her that this may be a concern of HERS in a few months!! Don't rely on information you are going to get here, even though we are all well meaning people we are by no means experts. Go to someone who has been trained to help you find the answer to this and most of all be patient....if it is a latch issue it is going to take you a while to "retrain" him to do it properly!!! Good luck and enjoy that wonderful bonding time that always happens during nursing!!

You need to adjust his latch so the teeth aren't digging in. His head needs to tilt back a little more. You can go to the lactation clinic and have them help, or La Leche league folks can probably help you make it better.

I have just started having this issue again with my 2 year old. We went through it once before and now are working on it again. Thankfully, the nursings are less frequent and we are only about 2 nursings away from weaning completely.

Oh, and when it starts to hurt, push him into you, he will let go of his latch so he can get a breath. If you pull away, you will make it hurt even more.

Good luck,
D.

Same thing happened with us... your boob/nipples just get even more tough if that's possible.

My son went through that at 7-8 months. It did stop eventually. Every time I felt it, I reacted like a bite. I closed up shop for a little bit and then we went back to it later. Sometimes I would unlatch and relatch him to get it to stop. It hurts! Nursing shouldn't hurt. Sometimes he would do it toward the end of the feeding when he was finished up still kind of nursing. It may be a sign that he's done or really close to it. They are pretty efficient by 7 months so it doesn't take long to get what they need.

If his teeth are scraping against your nipple, it sounds like his latch is off. He should be using his lips to nurse & not his teeth. You may want to call your hospital or WIC office & ask if either one can reccomend a lactation consultant. I nursed 3 of my 4 children well past a year & they had quite a few teeth. Other than the occasional bite, there wasn't any pain associated with their teeth.

Please, don't give up!! It's so awesome that you're breastfeeding your little guy! I hope things get better soon! God bless you, too!

Just like you used to check hiim when he first started nursing, you STILL have to check his mouth position on your nipple. Some children will feel the sensation to grind but won't when suckling. It may hurt a bit with the scraping when they first come out, but if you reposition his lips, tongue, his entire mouth over your areola, it should not hurt. I do recall getting scrapped once or twice with the initial outburst of teeth at that time, but it was brief. I just repositioned her lips, made sure she opened wide and her tongue was where it should be.
My daughter is 3 yrs old now, and she is STILL nursing. :)
My mother would keep asking me as time passed if she bit me yet and that I would have to stop soon because they all do. But my daughter never has, so apparently that is NOT true either!

My little fella only has two teeth, so I imagine your pain is a little more amplified; however, I just asked an experienced mamma what she would suggest I do and she recommended flicking the baby's cheek when he bites you.

If the baby is attached to your nipple correctly from the get-go then you shouldn't have any problems with teeth when they get them. I would say that you may want help from a lactation consultant to help with the latch. The baby should have his/her mouth wide open so that the entire oreola is inserted in their mouths. What I had to do was to keep pulling down on her chin to have this happen. It really should not hurt like that, because he is probably moving away from you and able to use his teeth. You need to open up his mouth (pushing down on his chin) and pull him in closer to you. I think the best thing would be to have a lactation consultant show you. I hope it resolves! Great Job with keeping up the nursing for a lifetime of improved immune system health!

That happened to me too. I had to get vigilant about her latch again - it was usually worst when she was slowing down/distracted/falling asleep.
That combined with your nipples building up tolerance will probably get you over this within a few weeks.
Good luck!

I totally hear you! My son wouldn't so much bite as just kind of scrape as he came off... I dreaded it. My daughter, on the other hand, bit me twice, was startled both times by my reaction, and never did it again. I tried everything, but in the end it pretty much went away.

After a while I noticed a trend. He seemed to do it when he was still hungry but there wasn't enough milk. I started feeding him more solids, and the problem diminished considerably. Eventually it pretty much went away.

I hope if that isn't helpful that someone else has something that will work. In the mean time, you have my full sympathy!

Hi Alice,

Congrats on breastfeeding your son for this long! My son is 16 months but only has 6 teeth. I was very nervous about his teeth coming in and if it would hurt or not while he was nursing. When the bottoms came in it was no biggie, since his tongue covered them up anyway. Once he started getting those top teeth though, I could definately feel them. It was a little uncomfortable at first, but after awhile I got used to it. By the time I stopped nursing him at 15 months, he had 4 teeth on top. This is just one suggestion but you could try a nipple shield. They sell them at Target and I'm sure anywhere else you could buy baby stuff. Although, if he's seven months it might be a little bit of a struggle to get him to agree with using it. Maybe try repositioning him? I wish you luck and hope you get the answer you're looking for!
S.

I agree with Kansasmom, you should check with a lactation consultant. I called one a few times in the first year, they aren't just for the the first few days. One word of advice about the nipple shield though- they can make your milk supply drop so you should really just use it to get relief for a couple days til the raw spots heal. And you want the nipples to toughen up and get almost calloused, they won't do that with a shield on long-term. All that is assuming he will take it. It will probably get better shortly. And good for you for not giving up right away. So many moms just throw in the towel at the first tooth, like that is the cutoff. My first year of nursing had several different hurdles. Teeth was one of them, but then that got easier. After that came the nursing strike. But it is worth sticking with it. Good luck!

Ouch. I've got a 7 month old too and I also feel his teeth. It doesn't hurt though, just kinda of scares me (because he has bitten me). I think you're boobs maybe more sensitive then the average (or atleast mine).
Or, when I got prego with this guy, I was still nursing the last guy and my boobs became super sensitive. Are you prego??

If he bites you then remove him from the breast and say no. Do this a few times and he gets the idea. Its sounds like though that you are just not used to the feeling of having teeth involved. Sometimes I see little teeth marks on my nipples after I remove my son but it doesn't hurt. Maybe I just have tough nipples or I just got used to it? I think a little teeth are part of the package! If it continues to hurt, keep removing him and putting him back on until he gets the idea. This might work best when he is hungry and more focused on latching on correctly than playing around.

I agree with some of the other posters that repositioning, adjusting latch and La Leche League will all help you. One thing I do with my daughter is take her off (I just say "off"), then remind her to "open big, tongue out" and then she can go back on. She doesn't latch deep enough sometimes. She's 2.5 with 20 teeth and we've been doing that for about a year. If you don't have a LLL group in your area, you can check the website LLLI.org for info and it will give you some suggestions you can try.

hi alice,
you will go through phases where they forget that mom's boobs are not teething toys. push their face in if they do chomp down and they quickly learn to not do that. as far as nursing as children get more and more teeth, they also get a more able brain that understands your consistent words about not biting...that's how older children are able to nurse.