Not biting but grazing?

[Alieight]

DS is 12mo and is going through a phase of grazing my nipple with his top teeth. It's surprisingly painful for something that doesn't draw blood, and he's leaving little dents in my nipple at every feed.

I think that we've got a bit lazy with the latch - when he's feeding he likes to push my breast away so my nipple is stretched out, and it feels as though it's rubbing on something inside his mouth - his hard palate?

The thing is, he's latched on really well since he was a newborn, and I really don't know how to go about correcting the latch or stopping him from pushing my breast away. If I try and take him off and relatch him he gets either horrendous upset and refuses to feed any more, or thinks that the feed is over and it's time to play.

Any advice anyone?

[GwarchodwrPlant]

My DS started nipping me and it was bloody painful! The way I dealt with it initially was to say 'NO' loudly and put him down, however this backfired as he found it funny and would do it more just to get a reaction from me!

In the end I learned to stop offering feeds so frequently as I found he would nip if I offered and he didn't want milk so he was just warning me in his own way. I also stopped saying 'NO' if he did it and gave as little reaction as I could. He has stopped doing it now so I think a combination of these things and it being a passing phase helped!

[GwarchodwrPlant]

P.S if he's is leaving dents in your nipples then it sounds like he's biting and not grazing!

[Montifer]

You have my sympathy, DS did this and it does hurt. I found this helpful and thankfully it settled quite quickly (less than a week I think), was related to him getting his mouth around new teeth I think. Good luck

[Alieight]

Thanks for replying. The thing is, he's not really nipping me - I'm clearly not describing it very well.

He latches on, all is fine, and then at some point in the feed it really starts hurting, but not suddenly, like a bite (he's had a couple of biting phases). It's more gradual, like his latch is slipping or something, or it happens when he kind of stretches my nipple out.

I try unlatching him and latching him back on , but it always recurs, and it's getting to the point where I'm really dreading feeding him sometimes, which I find quite upsetting really.

[Alieight]

X-post Montifer! Thanks for the link, will go have a look.

[GwarchodwrPlant]

Have you considered the possibility of Thrush?

(I am a seasoned thrush sufferer)

Or do you suffer from blanching nipples after a feed?

[Alieight]

Don't think it's thrush - had ongoing thrush in my milk ducts for a couple of months, and this feels very different. Don't have blanched nipples either (although again, I have had in the past).

Think I need to somehow go back to basics, which was much easier with a newborn than the wriggly mobile heffalump that I seem to have now .

[Montifer]

Just a subtle change in position whilst feeding helped to stop his new teeth causing the indentation, it did settle quickly and we went back to our usual lazy feeding routine / position after that. Good luck