Breastfeeding 9month old - teeth grazing, not intentional biting, very sore boobs :-(

[SpecialStains]

After the initial few weeks with DS, breastfeeding was fine, easy and I quite like it.

He bit me a few times when his bottom teeth came through, but soon stopped. Now his two top teeth are here and, my goodness, it's painful.

I've got mirror image marks/sores on the areola on both breasts from where his top teeth rest when he feeds. He's not doing this intentionally, but it's now so sore every time he latches on.

How do I let my boobs heal when he still feeds so often? Is this normal? I really don't want to stop breastfeeding yet, but it's really painful when he feeds.

I'm using the purple nipple cream, and we mostly feed lying down. He found nipple shields hilarious and just tried to pull them off and won't feed expressed breastmilk/formula from a bottle.

[Gannetseatfish]

Ouch! We had this especially when the top and bottom teeth came through. Like you I mainly fed lying down but for a while remember resorting to the cushion and rugby hold. If nothing else this should make sure the same area doesn't keep getting grazed/bitten! Should pass quite quickly x

[SpecialStains]

Thanks for reassuring me it'll pass soon - that is actually a huge help. I'll try rugby ball hold tomorrow and keep slathering on the nipple cream.

[SunsetInToulouse]

I also had this at 9-10 months. Different positions helped so that her teeth weren't resting on the same spot each time. Lansinoh helped too. But it only really went away when I got mastitis and DD refused to feed for about 4 days.

[nippa]

This happened to me when my daughter was the same age and her top teeth came through. I ended up with infected sores on both nipples, but I really didn't want to stop breastfeeding at that stage so I tried feeding in different positions so that her teeth didn't hit the sores, and also worked on improving her latch, which made a big difference. I found using a breastfeeding cushion really helped, too. As soon as the latch improved, the sores healed really quickly as they were no longer being rubbed at each feed. Kellymom has a bit of info on different things you can try.

[SpecialStains]

Rugby ball hold worked surprisingly well this morning, I would have thought he was too big for it now.

Nippa - did you treat the infected sores?

Sunset - poor you having teeth marks and mastitis at the same time! Fingers crossed I don't need to get mastitis to give my boobs a break!

For something so natural, breastfeeding is hard work at times!

[nippa]

Specialstains - I cleaned out the pus, cleaned them with saline (which I washed off before the next feed) and then applied breastmilk after each feed and allowed them to air dry (when I was at home!) I planned to go to the doctor the next day, but they started healing really well and there were no more signs of infection so I didn't. I'm not sure how long they took to heal, but it wasn't that long, and I continued breastfeeding for another two and a half years, so it didn't put either of us off.

[BertieBotts]

I found there was a day or two of grazing and soreness whenever a new tooth came through but it did pass after that. It's worse with the front ones, better later on.

[Whitelisbon]

I had the exact same with dtd at the same sort of age, and ended up calling a helpline in floods of tears one night.
They told me to adjust her position, so that her head was tilted way back (like you do when they're newborn), by moving her over a bit. It feels a bit weird at first, but it was instantly better.

[SpecialStains]

I just want to whinge - it's getting worse.

I'm rotating between feeding cradle position, rugby ball hold and lying down and it briefly got better but is now back with a vengeance. You can see the three sets of teeth marks from where I feed in each position. He's now got the top incisors coming through as well (incidentally, how weird is it that babies teeth come through in pairs?).

It's so, so sore!

Any more good ideas?