Painful feeding of 11 month old

[imip]

Dd4 has been causing an incredible amount of pain when breastfeeding. I am really not sure what it is, but I think she is rubbing my nipple against her teeth. I feel like I am an 'experienced' breast feeder. I've feed all 4 dds to 10, 11 and 16 months, stopping only to get pregnant again or when I was pregnant and breastfeeding really hurt. They have all had teeth very early also, and I haven't had problem with teeth, apart from biting. I usually take them off the breast instantly, tell them no, and eventually they get the message. She breastfeeding to sleep generally, and she is taking a along time on the breast to get to sleep, also wakes frequently throughout the night, it is making breastfeeding a terrible experience. This is my last dd, and I really wanted to keep feeding, but at this point I was just going to feed til she was one and then stop. Has this happened to anyone? Any suggestions?

[alyson25]

Hi, sorry you're having so much trouble and pain at the moment. I've never had any problems with bf up until DD was around that age. I too felt she was rubbing her teeth on my nipple, crikey the pain was unbearable. We decided she was cutting a top tooth, the ones that were through were fine as the edges had smoothed off but she also had a cold and kept coming off and on the breast in order to breath in between sucks. Had bf support out 3 times and they declared she had the worst latch they'd ever seen!

Not much help though really other than going back to basics with the latch and try to keep her calm whilst feeding, tv off etc. and loads of Lansinoh before and after each feed. There is a section on Kellymom about this with other handy hints.

My DD also generally feeds to sleep and started waking 2 or 3 times a night which is unusual for her. I just put it down to a phase and hope she got out of it. At the moment she's up perhaps 1 or 2 times and sometimes sleeps through till early hours. My other thoughts on sleeping were that she's trying to transition to 1 nap and can't quite make it and her naps and sleep generally are a bit ad hoc just now.

Hope things get a better very soon for you.

[imip]

Thank you. Strangely, my problems have started since the teeth have become fully grown. Two bottom teeth, and it is like she drags the nipple along the full corner and side .

I've had a quick look at kellymom, but think I need to find the time to look at it more closely. Finding a quiet time to breast feed is nigh to impossible here with four dds six and under!

I'm quite sad about it all as I think I am going to have to stop feeding, and I did want to keep going. I night weaned my other three younger. I currently have two very bad sleepers at night, and then still, the 4 and 6 year old have bad nights. Not sure how much more I can cope with without sleep. I have not slept through for six years! Starting to breastfeeding has always been very hard for me. 12 weeks of pain, cracked nipples, tow curling agony. But I persisted with each dd. and it's just kinda sad to think it is happening again! Thanks again for your advice.

[squidgeberry]

Have your periods restarted? I had sore nipples for about 4 months when dd was 8-12 months old, which felt like teeth, but I think it was due to restarting ovulation/hormones as changing position/relatching didn't help. I starting taking a calcium and magnesium supplement which eventually helped.

[AndMiffyWentToSleep]

There is something on kellymom about this - something about their position, though I can't remember exactly.
I also got out the lansinoh nipple cream again - wonderful stuff! And tried to ensure he had a good latch.

[imip]

Thank-you. Sorry I have been MIA, builders in the house!

I did think my periods might be rereturning, but it has been for more than four weeks and no period. Dd is almost 12 months and with dd3 my periods returned when she was 13 months. I had put down the painful breastfeeding with her to being pregnant, but it is interesting that you had that pain with periods also.

Off to kellymom, thank you

[imip]

As a postscript to this thread, I have discovered the cause of this pain, and it is indeed a poor latch. Dd had developed a bad habit of pulling back while feeding and annoyingly putting her fingers in my mouth or slapping my chest. Above the right nipple where her teeth have been resting, there is now a huge, painful hole the size of a tooth. I have been 'stuffing' as much of my nipple in as possible and it is much less painful. It is a battle of wills, as she is to happy with not being able to pull back, but it is this or me giving up breastfeeding. I didn't think is was necessarily the latch as she was feeding well, I could hear here taking big mouthfuls and swallowing.

After feeding four dds and spending four years breastfeeding, I would have thought myself a little 'experienced' in this area. I never would have thought it would be so simple! It just goes to show! ....