Breastfeeding and top teeth?
My 8 month old daughter just cut her top teeth a few weeks ago and breastfeeding has become awful. No problems with the bottom teeth since her tongue covers those during feeding but her top have cut through my skin on my nipple and it is horribly painful. Interestingly, this only happens on the right side, no problems on the left side. And to be clear, she isn’t biting me, her teeth are just dragging back and forth across my nipple with each suck, causing her to break the skin of my nipple. I have two sores now, each in the perfect size and shape of each of her top teeth. Anyone have this problem? Any help would be great. Thank you!!
Its a positioning issue, its most likely that you just aren’t supporting her quite enough or drawing her in quite close enough when nursing. It will get better very quickly once you fix the problem.
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/older-baby/biting.html#scraping
Not really biting, but scraping teeth or indentations
Teeth scraping, uncomfortable latch, or indentations on your nipple tissue from the teeth is not all that uncommon. It seems to be worse for most moms right when the teeth first cut through, and before they have a chance to wear down some and become less sharp. Babies may also change their latch a bit when they get new teeth, as nursing can feel different to them with the new teeth. With time, baby will learn to nurse better with the new teeth and you won’t be so aware of them. Here are some suggestions that have helped other moms:
* With an older baby, the weight of the baby can cause baby’s mouth and teeth to “drag down” on the breast tissue. See if you can position baby so that her weight is supported well. Use pillows or a chair with arm rests to support her as much as you can. When she is nursing on the left side, bring her bottom in a little bit closer and vice versa. Don’t let her nurse in a position that lets her weight and gravity cause her mouth to pull down on your breast and nipple. Try moving her body slightly in different ways (higher, lower, side to side, etc.) till the pressure on your breast is lessened.
* Latch baby on and position her head so that it is tilted back more to get the pressure of the top teeth off your breast. For example, if baby is nursing in the cradle position on the left side, bring her body toward the right a bit. This will bring baby’s chin up, with her head a bit cocked back, and that moves the pressure of baby’s top teeth off the top of the nipple. Don’t let her chin rest on her chest.
* Some other ways to get baby’s head tilted back more: ask your child to look at you while she nurses, or hold a book up high to read to your child and have her look at the book.
* When you support your breast with 2-4 fingers underneath and thumb on top, push in against the chest wall with your index finger just before offering the breast. This will cause the nipple and areola to point down more, so that they don’t rub against baby’s upper teeth. This technique is often suggested for moms who have nipple soreness due to their nipples rubbing up against the roof of baby’s mouth.
* Ask baby to open WIDE and show her with your own mouth. Tell her that it hurts mommy and ask her to try again until it feels better.
* A generous application of lanolin before and after feeding may be helpful, as will rinsing your nipples with cool water after feedings. When babies are teething they produce more saliva which can be irritating to nipple tissue. If baby is eating solids, sometimes food particles left in the mouth can also irritate nipple tissue, so it may help to rinse out baby’s mouth or give baby a sip of water prior to nursing.
* Any time you experience soreness, go back to the basics of latch just as you did in the early days.
* It’s also possible that some of the tenderness is a result of ovulation or an impending menstrual period. Many moms of older babies are more bothered with latch on and baby’s teeth during these times.
http://parenting.ivillage.com/newborn/nbreastfeed/0,,3wsz,00.html
In the meantime, check your positioning. I know this is not typical advice given to mothers of toddlers, but improper positioning and attachment (even with an older child) can be the cause of nipple soreness. In your letter you said that your daughter’s teeth rub your nipple. She probably does not have a good mouthful of your breast in her mouth. If she did, your nipple would be far back into her mouth and well protected from her teeth. Remember, she should be taking in about one inch of your areola. Maybe she is starting out well-attached, but as nursing progresses, and she gets squirmy, she moves down to where she is basically holding onto your nipple. Toddlers often are moving all over the place with your nipple in their mouth. Explain to your daughter that she will need to lie still to nurse because it hurts you when she moves all around. Keep her hugged into your breast, as you did when positioning her as a newborn. You could also try nursing in different positions so the pressure does not hit in the same place at all times. Try lying down to nurse, maybe even rotating her body so her feet are at your head (if she is still cooperative at 10 months of age!)
http://www.llli.org//NB/NBJulAug01p143.html
When my oldest daughter was a nursing toddler there were some times that breastfeeding her was uncomfortable also. First, she began to enjoy “acrobatic nursing” and used her teeth to hang on. We solved this by repositioning and sitting up so that she didn’t use me as a jungle gym. Second, when she began to drink out of a sippy cup, she would sometimes treat my nipple like the plastic spout of her cup and suck fairly hard. Encouraging her to latch on properly helped. Sometimes it was almost as though she had nipple confusion! Third, when I was pregnant she did change her sucking pattern to try to get milk.
It seems to me that toddlers often begin to suck differently for many reasons new teeth, a diminishing milk supply, forgetting how to coordinate the tongue and jaw if much time passes between nursings or if they begin using sippy cups. Sometimes just encouraging your toddler to relax and nurse properly and gently can help your jitters go away. Also, perhaps changing your nursing position might help. For us, we had to stop nursing while lying down (a position we used frequently in the past) because it seemed to signal my daughter that it was time to climb. A change to sitting up helped to calm her and let her know it was breastfeeding time, and we’d play after breastfeeding.
|
|
Breastfeeding: Mother-to-Mother $19.95 In this informative video, Jessica Solomon, a mother of five, shares the knowledge she gained from over 9 years of continuous breastfeeding experience. She covers: * How to correctly latch a baby onto the breast (close-up demonstration)* The best holds and positions for breastfeeding (demonstration)* How to unlatch properly to prevent nipple trauma (close-up demonstration)* The gentle and effectiv… |
|
|
Born Free Twin Pack Wide Neck Bottles … |
|
|
LPS-Large LilyPadz® are a patented, innovative nursing pad made of a skin-like layer of silicone. The unique design of LilyPadz® maintains pressure on the nipple while in place and forms a non-absorbent barrier that actually PREVENTS breast milk leakage. No more inconvenient pad exchanges, and both you and your clothes stay dry!… |