BF very painful; toddler chewing nips, desperately don't want to stop now. Help please!

[crimplene]

DS has always had various bad habits and bad techniques, he used to bite a lot (before he got teeth luckily). We ended up with a technique that wasn't exactly very comfortable for me but was OK, although we went through phases of it being painful (usually becasue he's stop drawing the nipple far enough back) and then he's get better again. I don't think he's doing anything different to what he's been doing for the last few months (mouth not wide enough open, teeth chewing slightly). The only thing that's changed in the last couple of weeks is that he's cut his first canine.

For the last fornight my nips have felt really bruised where he's been chewing; I've cut out any daytime feeds - which he was ready to do anyway so no probs - but it's still not enough recovery time. Even with just morning and evening it's still excruciating. I've had to cut it down to just 5 mins each time and it's still horribly painful.

DS and I don't want to stop yet. I think about another 6 months would be about right, but both of us are shedding a lot of tears at the moment, but we're going to have to stop now and I'm going to feel rotten if I can't solve this problem.

Please help. What can I do?

[crimplene]

Thanks motherhurdicure. I've tried stopping the feed and relatching and pulling him in very close and making him tilt his head back. I've tried to mime opening my mouth wide but he doesn't copy facial expressions (never has); I'm guessing it's related to his vision not being very good at the age when most babies start doing it - he tends to stick his hand in my mouth when I demonstrate! Could try change of position as the only time he's feeding now is lying down. I've asked him to stop biting and he says 'no bite!'. I can't see any signs of thrush no white patches and it feels like bruising - could that be it? I'm pretty sure the nip is too far forward in his mouth and he avoids squashing it just be being gentle, rather than doing it properly.

I could probably cope with 5 mins morning and night even as it is, but the distress is huge when I say 'that's enough, sorry' and I wondered whether I'm prolonging the agony.

[bethoo]

my son is 13 months and has been biting for ages and it hurts like hell, realy want to stop but do not know how. he has a gap in his top front teeth and i swear he si sucking my nip through it!
the advice given is worth a try but i am usually too tired to do it as he feeds in mornign at 6. though the other feeds i think he is not feeding, just suckling for comfort.

[crimplene]

bethoo. I sympathise - I always stick my finger in the side gap in DS's teeth when detaching him or he tends to do that. I also managed to get him to open a bit wider by being really insistent about positioning when DS's first two teeth came through.

[bethoo]

have you tried de latching when he is asleep? nightmare! usually have him attached to me all night whcih means i cant sleep! thank god we no longer co sleep!

[crimplene]

Yes, that was when he was most inclined to bite, just as he fell asleep. He's now detaching, rolling over and going to sleep by himself usually, but I used to wait for a couple of minutes of sleeping breathing and then detach him - he was usually too far gone to fight it - if you do it consistently, they give up on the idea of using you as a dummy for the night.

[crimplene]

Cheers! LLL were great - the lovely woman said that she thought it was down to DS cutting canines - the baby book I'd read said that canines were no trouble, so I'd dismissed the possiblity, even though it was coincident. I'm going to hang on in there (with arnica and calpol and whatever else I can think of) and wait for it to get better. At least I know it's something transient now, so it's worth gritting my teeth.

[crimplene]

motherhurdicure - thanks - not too much teeth gritting required. I dosed me up with arnica and DS with chamomila, I've been really strict about how he positions himself and we're doing OK - uncomfortable rather than excruciating and getting better