Ooouch the pain! Help please!

Funny this happened when your littlest chick started sleeping through... I wonder if it is related?

Ok so I had dh check out any damage and he said he can see splits underneath the nipple so I guess that's what's causing the pain? I put some cream on last night before I went to bed and then she actually slept through until 5.20 this morning!!!

Only a little bit of pain this morning but I was quite full so she didn't have to wait for it lol

NB - if there are splits, you gotta try and let them heal between feeds. Can you air dry? Express a little onto each nipple and air dry?

Ok I took note during a feed. It's definitely her teeth. They dig in around my nipple and cause the cracks. I don't know how to get her to stop - I reattach whenever she does it, but she just goes back to the same way of feeding.

Is this a phase or do I have to wean her now?

Top teeth?
It's generally a case of going back to basics. Wide mouth, chin to breast, nice and close to you.
It is often a phase, yes. Lots of us deal with this problem and go on to feed much longer.

https://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bf-...racked-nipples
https://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bf-...%93baby/biting
https://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bf-...abc-attachment

My first thought was that her saliva may be acidic from the teething, but if the pain is 'inside' rather than on the skin i would def get checked for thrush/staph.

Omg madb!! Bingo!

"Some babies with newly-erupted teeth will 'rest' these teeth on the mother's areola or breast, leaving little indentations, that although not a bite, can be quite painful."

That's what she is doing. Except she digs more and more in as the feed goes on.

Thanks!

yep. work on the positioning, go back to attachment basics. you'll hit on the right 'spot' for it to be comfortable again. I found I really needed to get them in closer - we'd gotten quite slack with positioning as they'd gotten older. it's fine till they stick their teeth in.

I've had teeth marks! :lol: only just realised...

at a similar age, i started to say 'big mouth' and encourage dd to open her mouth wide and get more boob in. also make sure her back was supported when feeding.

I fed her in the football hold (what I always used to use) and used a pillow, made sure attachment was spot on and had my hand behind her head.

She still punched and pushed and tugged but no teeth!

Thanks everyone!

Yay! :leap:

Ok we had a couple of good feeds, and now we are back to where we started! As soon as she attaches she pulls back and the chomping starts. I hold her head and put pressure on it, but she still is able to move it back, even though I'm pushing quite hard. She's a strong little bugger! She's chomping, not sucking properly. So its almost like since her 4 top teeth have come in, she has forgotten how to suck and pretends its something to eat like her solids are.

I don't know how much longer I can go on like this, I hate feeding her at the moment, and am leaning towards expressing (even though I have no bottles or anything because I got rid of them all!)

ETA: the night feeds aren't as bad, maybe because she's so sleepy she's more of an instinctual feeder and sucks properly? :dunno:

Do you feed her straight away when she looks for it? With DD, I've noticed I've been getting the boob out, but kinda teasing her a few seconds before I let her have it, so she's impatient. That way she's too worried about getting it to think to bite. IYGWIM?

Hmmm. I dunno, I sort of guess that she wants feeding if its been a while since the last feed, and she keeps tugging at my shirt and wanting to climb up my chest... then I get my phone and sit on the couch and she pretty much cries and crawls (frog hops) over to me.... and then I dunno, I just put her on... she hops on and off a hell of a lot though - distractions by siblings...

Can you give her something to do too - a book to read while she's feeding, or something soft to bop you with? Put the pressure on the middle of her back rather than her head (at least that's what worked better for us - but DS was over one at the time).

I'll try anything!!! I'll give it a go for her evening feed.

I'd stop feeding her if she's pulling back like that and hurting you. Tell her why and ask her stop or no more milk. Then try again next time. She's old enough to get it after a while.
offering her simething else to do to help might work too :)