Teething help

[annbuhdan]

Hi everyone,
I am nursing a 6 month old daughter and I just need help. She currently has her two bottom teeth and her two top teeth are almost through her gums. I think her teething pain is causing her to clamp on so hard when she latches. Her two little teeth are tearing into my nipples. I know I am supposed to break the latch to teach her or something, but that just results in her basically scraping my nipple through her teeth. I have large sores that pretty much can't heal. I've tried different nursing positions so her teeth hit me in different places, but it is just so painful. Plus she wants to nurse more often for comfort. Today I can't take it and I've just been pumping.

I feel like I'm resisting letting her nurse, so I'm getting painful lumps, which makes it worse when she actually does eat. Then usually I cut her short because of the pain, so I'm probably dropping my supply. I'm really sad because I nursed DD1 for 18 months, even while pregnant and it was a breeze. I just wanted it to work out this time too. I am so close to quitting, but I don't want to make such a "final" decision.

What do you think I can do? Would it be crazy to try a nipple shield? I've never used one but maybe I could heal that way.

(Sorry I think I just had to get this all out because I'm struggling and I have no one to talk to about it!!)

[lilyelayne]

It's incredible how sharp those brand new teeth are.

Nipple care- express breast milk onto nipples, let air dry, follow with nipple cream. You may consider bacitracin ointment 1-2x day. Saline soaks several times a day may also speed healing.

When my son started getting teeth, I had to really work on getting a good deep latch, just like when he was a newborn. Nipple at nose level, let her tilt her head back and open wide, ensure she has a mouthful of breast and then roll your nipple into her mouth last. The wide mouth full of breast will help protect you against those razor teeth. It's okay to break suction and try again if the latch isn't good.

Try letting her chew on a cold washrag or a frozen teether for a minute or two prior to nursing. Rub firmly on her gums prior to nursing. You want to do what you can to alleviate her discomfort so she doesn't try to teethe on you.

She cannot bite you while actively nursing, because her tongue is over her bottom teeth. That means if she is going to clamp down, she has to stop nursing, retract her tongue, then bite. This gives you a tiny window of opportunity to break her latch pre-bite. Pay close attention. You may even leave your little finger on her cheek or near the corner of her mouth, so as soon as she slows down or looks distracted or pulls her tongue back, you can slip your finger in the corner of her mouth between her gums to break suction & safely remove your nipple.

It's a phase and it will pass. If you need to pump for a day or two, just be sure you pace feed the bottles so she doesn't develop a bottle preference.

Hope this helps!

[lilyelayne]

kellymom.com/ages/older-infant/teething/

[seamonster]

I would break the latch and firmly tell her "no biting". I gave a 2nd chance and then ended the nursing sessions if it continued. I used a chamomile based teething gel and chamomile based powder to help DS with teething pain.

[seamonster]

Also in cradle or cross-cradle, push gently between the shoulder blades to force a deeper latch.

[annbuhdan]

lilyelayne Thank you for all the healing tips. I'm pumping on my right side because it's worse and I'm going to try all those tricks to heal!

[annbuhdan]

Feb 13, 2017 22:42:31 GMT -5 seamonster said:

Also in cradle or cross-cradle, push gently between the shoulder blades to force a deeper latch.

Thanks, I need to try this. She had a tongue tie and her latch has always been pretty shallow. I hadn't really bothered with it lately until now it's come back to (literally) bite me!