Bad attachment and now teeth = serious serious ouchies

Back again . . .

We're almost at that magic 12 month mark but I'm seriously struggling. DD3 has always had a shocking attachment and it hasn't mattered what I've tried or how many LCs we've gone to its stayed shocking. Lately though its gone from discomfort to seriously seriously painful. She's not biting as such, but her bad attachment together with ever increasing number of teeth makes it feel like each feed is more painful than the last. When the pain is really bad I'm taking her off and trying to reattach her so it doesn't hurt but nothing I'm doing seems to change anything. Its almost like she's clamping on and digging her teeth in.

Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks

Dd3 did the clamping on thing just before she turned one - I would take her off and say ow and ask her to be gentle and then reattach. If she wasn't then I would take her off again and try again a few minutes later.

She did it for about a month I think? I nearly made 23 months of feeding so it definitely stopped.

Have you had constant pain? I would think by one attachment wouldn't still be an issue although I know both mine would wriggle and squirm on the boob and cause damage.

Have you been tested for thrush? It can make the nipples so sensitive.

Otherwise, just take bub off and say no when they clamp down and start again. Sometimes you have to watch them at the end of the feed because that's when they are likely to do that lock-jaw thing which can make me squeal out loud.

when this happened for us, i asked for help and Efjay on BB talked me thru it.

SOmething like
baby can only chomp down, if you are holding them in a position where they are ABLE to chomp down. So if you hold them so they are literally on their back, with their chin in the air, they are no longer able to chomp down on your nipple.

i had to relearn how i was holding my baby, when i fed her. And the biting stopped.

i had to learn to REALLY quickly, position my nipple at the BACK of her palate, very quickly. To get good attachment.

i think i also got a breastfeeding necklace, to distract her with.

i'm not a breastfeeding counsellor like Effjay, and it's been a few years since it happened, so i may not be explaining it the best.

the advice i got was so good, i went from thinking - i will have to wean her early, this is too painful - to the point, where we carried on bf-ing for a few years after that.

Ring the ABA helpline on 1800 686 268 (free).

Thanks Gigi - I'll give that a go and see if we can get some better results. I feed her pretty upright because she has reflux but worth trying the lying flat bit and see if that triggers tummy issues

Its not that she's clamping as such - just that she has a small mouth and a "weird tongue attachment" - yes, that is exactly what I was told!! Not a tongue tie as such, and nothing that could ever be rectified, and that combined with her mouth means she's never taken my nipple in very far so its really hard for her teeth not to make some sort of contact. I'm finding feed times are really unpleasant for both of us with me in pain and her getting frustrated because I'm frequently taking her off and trying to get a better attachment. She's also a very lazy feeder - just attaches and then waits for letdown without actually doing anything to trigger it herself other than just being there ;-) Not entirely sure how my worst feeder by so so far has become the one I have feed significantly longer than the others?? Probably pure pigheadedness on my part I think.

Thanks very much ladies