Disclaimer: This is a post about breastfeeding. It may get detailed. If you think it would weird you out to read about it, then skip this post. Please.
Oh, what to do? Tommy is pretty much refusing to eat any baby food. He enjoys trying to eat finger food, but his four teeth can only chomp so much. And by that I mean that last night for dinner he had one rotini noodle and two green beans and a slice of strawberry. That was it.
This means that Tommy and his four teeth are pretty much relying on my girls for their sole nourishment. And oh, the torture.
I love nursing. I have loved nursing since he was born, despite the frequent pain and difficulty of our early nursing experience. But this, oh my. LLL books say that nursing should never be painful, even when babies have teeth, so we must be doing something wrong. But it's like I've got two little razors biting the top of my nips, and he's somhow increased his suction power to super Hoover. I don't know, but it is torture to feed him. When we finish nursing parts of my nips are frequently white because he's sucked so hard.
Despite my poor, abused girls, I am absolutely not interested in weaning. So what can I do to ease the pain in the mean time?
I am slathering on the Lansinoh, but it doesn't seem to be doing much. Does anyone have any suggestions? All ye other mothers, does this happen to you? What do I need to do to fix it??
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12 Comments:
I am so sorry! Cam weaned himself before he got too many teeth. No advice, just sympathy!
Motrin might help a little. Good luck...that HURTS.
stop nursing!!!
Sorry. It's so long ago now, that I have forgotten all but the sweet parts. Good luck. I'll be thinking of you.
This too shall pass (lots of good that did you, right?). He's probably trying to increase the amount of food supply "your girls" offer. It shouldn't take more than a week (usually less) for your body to step up production and for you baby to stop trying to suck one of your nips clean off!
As for the teeth thing, I wish I had advice for you. My older weaned himself at 9 months and only had two bottom teeth at the time - so no biting. My younger had two up and two down and used them, but I just resorted to being sore until I weaned him. I did make sure to stop a feeding session if he ever bit me though (and not just accidentally scraped me, which happened lots).
And lastly... A favorite little one food at our house was/is cottage cheese. It doesn't require much chewing and fills up little tummies. Good luck with everything
I'm sorry to hear about your dilemma. I'm not looking forward to the day my daughter's teeth grow in. It sounds quite painful even though it's not "supposed" to be. Do you use a pump?
I had this same thing happen with my youngest and the lactation specialist (I love that title!) suggested I get some nipple guards. I can't say enough about how helpful they were! My nips were not only white after my little one was done nursing, but he sucked sooo hard that the poor things were sportin' blood blisters!
Nipple Guards! I wore them for one week...giving my nips time to heal and time for my milk to kick it up a notch.
Lifesaver!
DO NOT stop nursing!!! I know that's easier to say than do, but having nursed my older boy until he was about 2 and the younger until I got pregnant again (he was just over 1) I can tell you the rewards do outweigh the pains. Teeth are definitely something that takes getting used to, and the lovely ladies will never be the same, but the pain will not last forever.
Part of the issue is probably the timing and positioning of those first four razors. He may be nursing differently/harder because the extra pressure feels good on his aching gums. So once those teeth are done moving, he may change his style. In the meantime, the nipple guards sound like a great idea (I know others who have used them with success, though I never did myself).
Good luck, and we'll pray for you!!
Thank you all for your wonderful comments. Bobita, I will look for nipple guards. Things have improved over here, though. I guess my body finally caught up with him.
Hmmm. I haven't forgotten.
My daughter (the one who made me a grandmother on january 1st) used to bite me, then pull her head back to see what I was going to do about it.
I wish I had known about nipple guards. I'll tell my daughter of their existance, but I'll let him get a few good bites in first.
(cue evil laughter)
My kiddo never bit... sounds like I should be glad he didn't! I hoep the nipple guards help, or something does!
Another thing that helps is to tilt the baby's head backward while nursing just a little-- osition his head on your arm so his chin lifts just a little. This causes the top teeth press your breast a little less (His tongue, of course, covers the bottom teeth)
Mary, mom to many razor-mouthed little ones
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