scrape, scrape, scrape....all.night.long.

[Pumpkin_Pie]

DS just got his two top teeth at 9 months (thank-God he is a somewhat late teether!) Anyway, he has a tendency to get a bit of a sloppy latch late at night when he is very sleepy. I have always let him have free access to my breasts all night long, as it helps both of us to sleep better for the most part. Well, now, he will nurse his fill, and then suckle for an hour or more at night and those two top little razors erm... teeth are scraping me raw. I just noticed this morning that I have an actual raw, bleeding spot on my right nipple now.

Please help me. I am starting to really hurt, and can't figure out for the life of me how to make it stop short of night weaning, which isn't an option at this point.

I have tried unlatching him and relatching him with a (hopefully) deeper latch, but he slips right back down again to just the tip of my nipple. I have tried to roll over and play dead and hope and pray that he is too tired to wake up fully to go searching for my breasts, and this works maybe 10% of the time. I have tried gently breaking suction in every conceivable way and it just doesn't work. He nearly always wakes up.

I realize that this is a "stage" and "completely normal" but I need to figure out how to cope without having my nipples scraped off my body. I am having daydreams of taking a file to those little fangs of his at this point!

[possum]

Not much advice, but I'm here to let you know that you are not the only one. My baby is getting the second set of top teeth - the ones just outside of the middle ones - and that is even more problematic than the earlier ones since he wants to nurse and chew to soothe his little gums but there are teeth in the way.
I would keep trying to get him to let go after he is asleep. 10% of the time is better than none!
Melinda

[tammyswanson]

Since you said he's sleepy and sort of latches off, then when you try to take him off your nipple he wakes up, can you try to 'fool' him by offering him your thumb or finger? I used to do that with DS when he was really small and just wanted to fall asleep with something in his mouth, maybe if you do it as soon as you take the nipple out of his mouth it'll make him think he's still latched on?

Ouchie!

[tammyswanson]

...

[Pumpkin_Pie]

Originally Posted by tammyswanson

Since you said he's sleepy and sort of latches off, then when you try to take him off your nipple he wakes up, can you try to 'fool' him by offering him your thumb or finger? I used to do that with DS when he was really small and just wanted to fall asleep with something in his mouth, maybe if you do it as soon as you take the nipple out of his mouth it'll make him think he's still latched on?

Ouchie!

I have actually tried doing this, but he wakes right up. I am in so much pain this morning. :

[MaryJaneLouise]

I don't know if this will help with night feeding, but you might read this:

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/older-bab....html#scraping