Teething/nursing strike? A bit confused

[Pearla]

DS 17mo is a boob fiend. He doesn't actually tend to drink from a cup, rather has breastmilk from me when he wants it, and that's fine, but the last couple of days he seems to have some painful teeth coming through next to his two bottom front ones (he only has 6 so far) and he has been refusing to feed.

He asks for it, then either bites me (no attempt to actually feed, just bites the nipple and pulls away) or just looks at them like he has forgotten what to do, might poke them a bit, then gets distracted and gets down.

These last couple of nights he has gone to bed without his usual bedtime feed. Last night he did feed at 3am and then in the morning while he was still asleep/dreamfeeding. I am thinking this is because sleep helps forget about the pain of the teeth a bit?

Is it common for toddlers to refuse to nurse when teething? I haven't had any experience of this and am a bit thrown - I'm also getting quite full and think I'll have to express before I go to bed. Any tips? I don't want to wean him but if this continues should I just stop offering? The biting is really painful and I try to gently tell him "no, nicely", but initially it makes me yelp, I have to admit.

:(

He might just be ready to stop, and teething can sometimes be a trigger. My DS did this at only 9 months, when he first teeth came through, and though I tried for weeks, he never really took to the boob again - he just preferred a cup. I wanted to bf for longer. But at 17mo, you have done fantastically well for him so far. You could just express and feed him the EBM in a cup, for as long as you like, or until/in case he wants to return to bf.

17 months is young to be self-weaning. It could be a phase or it could be teething.

If you think it's teething then you could try giving some pain relief before you feed him.

Yes, feeding him when he's half asleep can help, there will be fewer distractions and he'll just go on to auto-pilot. Does he nap during the day?

Lots of skin-to-skin might help too, you could try snuggling in bed or taking a bath together.

Here are some more tips that might help and here are some ideas for dealing with biting.

Thanks. He has started feeding again now, not much in the day but ALL night (fun for me!). I am trying to put him down for the night but after a few nips he has just given me an almighty gnash which made me cry so I've had to take him off. :(

He's having Bonjela, Teetha and Calprofen for his swollen gums. Wish the little buggers would just cut already, I can see them both under the gum just waiting to pop through, wish they would because I don't know if I'm coming or going and can't stand being bitten anymore!