6 month old abusing my poor nipples, help!

[Katie8681]

Hi ladies. My son and I have had a lovely nursing relationship up until about 2 weeks ago. I think it's at least partly teething related, although his teeth aren't poking through yet. He's been grabbing my nipples with a pincer grasp and pushing them into his mouth, and then latching onto the nipple only, with barely any areola. YOWCH. He's also been latching onto the areola alone with no nipple! Some biting (gumming?) as well. When I try to correct the latch, he pulls away entirely and comes back trying to do the exact same thing. Any advice would be so very very welcome; I'm starting to dread nursing sessions, which is very sad!

[Katie8681]

Here's a little update, with trial and error I found that holding his free hand, making lots of eye contact (ie stop internetting/iphoning/reading a book) during the nursing session, and decreasing environmental stimulation settles him down a LOT. However now I have mastitis from this weirdo nursing pattern so I didn't figure it out fast enough. :(  Gotta watch that latch. It is so much harder to correct a 6 month old than it was when he was a newborn!