Camelbak water bottles ruined our latch!

[Katielady]

I bought a camelbak for everyone in the fam at the beginning of the summer, thinking "Yay! Hydration!" I started to notice some pain while nursing and chalked it up to maybe being premenstrual, although it didn't seem like the right time in my cycle for that. But then I started to realize my nursing 2.5 yo was clenching with her teeth during nursing, and after basically a bite I latched her off and took a look at my nips- deep teeth marks all around! Ack! I finally made the connection between the biting and the Camelbaks. Hey let's have her suck on something all day where you have to bite it to get the liquid out! Then lets nurse with my tender, sensitive nipples! Duh.

I put them all away a few days ago. The latch seems to be minorly improving, but my nipples are scabbed at this point so nursing is still extremely painful.

Anyone else been through this? Any tips, besides the passage of time, for her to relearn a toothless latch? And lastly, any recommendations for a better water bottle? We switched from Kleen Kanteen because I find the KK ones to have too narrow a mouth (bad for adding ice) and to be kinda heavy.

[lifeguard]

Whenever ds' latch started to slip I would just remind him to use a big mouth & be gentle (he had the tendency to clench).

[Katielady]

Originally Posted by lifeguard 

Whenever ds' latch started to slip I would just remind him to use a big mouth & be gentle (he had the tendency to clench).

I've been trying this but she doesn't seem to get it. I still have a semicircle of deep teeth marks along one edge of my nipple whenever she nurses. This is awful. It's making me want to wean. I was kind of ha ha about it for a while but now that it's continuing I"m freaked that she'll never relearn a correct latch. She's always been a bit clenchy too but never to the point of causing pain like this.

I'm thinking about calling my LC. Are they trained in helping toddlers with their latch?

[Katielady]

So I called my LC and am sooooooo glad I did. We had a wonderful chat- it's amazing to both of us how the time has flown since she helped me when my little one was born- and she had lots of great suggestions. Also, prior to our visit she called in a scrip for nystatin for me because I developed thrush from all the biting. Between the cream and the new advice, I think we're good! I'm so glad....I'd hate to wean before we're ready just because of a little bump in the road. My daughter was very agitated when the LC and I were talking about the biting, and then fell asleep in my arms during the practice nursing session. She and I both were so relieved and buoyed up after the visit. We both love our nursing.