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We struggled with this as well. Emi got 7 teeth (4 top, 3 bottom) in the course of 3 weeks around the time she turned 6 months! For about a month there I was in some SERIOUS pain. Same as you described, she wasn't biting me but the teeth were rubbing raw spots on my nipples. A couple things that helped us were:
~ Change the positions you nurse in. Hold the baby different, lay down sometimes, whatever works. If you're always nursing in the same position then you're always irritating the same part of the nipple.
~ Be vigilant about latching. This was my biggest problem. Once I got VERY picky about how she was latched, and broke the latch if there was any pain, my nipples finally started to heal.
~ Try tilting your baby's head gently back so that the top teeth aren't pressing into you as much. The bottom ones should be covered by the tongue anyway, so the top is really the issue here.
~ Lansinoh, lansinoh, lansinoh. Also, don't hesitate to gently express some milk onto your nipples after you're done a nursing session & let them air dry. Then Lansinoh!
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~ If you get really, really, really desperate and are on the verge of weaning you can pump for a couple days and feed expressed milk instead. Now, before I get flamed for this suggestion just let me say that this wouldn't be my first advice, but I've BEEN on the verge of weaning & this was one of the things that saved me. I think it's much better to feed expressed milk for a couple days & give your body a chance to heal than to quit all together.
I should add that I've always had severe supply problems so weaning would have been pretty easy as she's already supplemented with formula. When I was getting really discouraged and wondering if it was worth it I did the math & figured that even if she's only getting 2-4 oz a day of breastmilk from me that still comes up to almost a 1/2 - 1 gallon a month! DD is now almost 9 months & we're still nursing.
You're not alone & you can do it!
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:
~ Change the positions you nurse in. Hold the baby different, lay down sometimes, whatever works. If you're always nursing in the same position then you're always irritating the same part of the nipple.
~ Be vigilant about latching. This was my biggest problem. Once I got VERY picky about how she was latched, and broke the latch if there was any pain, my nipples finally started to heal.
~ Try tilting your baby's head gently back so that the top teeth aren't pressing into you as much. The bottom ones should be covered by the tongue anyway, so the top is really the issue here.
~ Lansinoh, lansinoh, lansinoh. Also, don't hesitate to gently express some milk onto your nipples after you're done a nursing session & let them air dry. Then Lansinoh!
~ If you get really, really, really desperate and are on the verge of weaning you can pump for a couple days and feed expressed milk instead. Now, before I get flamed for this suggestion just let me say that this wouldn't be my first advice, but I've BEEN on the verge of weaning & this was one of the things that saved me. I think it's much better to feed expressed milk for a couple days & give your body a chance to heal than to quit all together.
I should add that I've always had severe supply problems so weaning would have been pretty easy as she's already supplemented with formula. When I was getting really discouraged and wondering if it was worth it I did the math & figured that even if she's only getting 2-4 oz a day of breastmilk from me that still comes up to almost a 1/2 - 1 gallon a month! DD is now almost 9 months & we're still nursing.
You're not alone & you can do it!
2
babies are smart and they don't want to hurt you. here's what worked for us...i would do the finger in the mouth to loosen his grip and say 'no bite...hurt mommy' if he did again , i would repeat this...but if he did it again, i would completely unlatch him and say 'no...hurt mommy.' typically this would do it. just keep repeating this and eventually they get it.
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when dd got her top teeth i wrote your post (about 2.5 months ago) we were in serious pain, but i promise it does pass it's your nipple getting use to the new teeth, and it happend again for shroter time with the next two top teeth came in about 1 week ago and after 2 days it did pass. it's not bitting it's just the rubbing you will know if it's a bite!!! Good luck just work through it, it will pass
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