Desperate for help here. Baby biting me and the knock on trauma. What can i do?

[jimijack]

7 months old ebf till now.
Started nipping now biting, excruciatingly painful.

He is suffering with teething so keeping him topped up with paracetamol.

Last night i couldnt bring myself to bf him.
So breasts full, constantly leaking and painful.
Baby screaming blue murder. I cant hold him to comfort him as my chest is so painful.

I expressed quite allot which eased some of the pain, but baby will not take a bottle. Ive got a couple of teats, but he refuses them.

I made him his porridge this morning and instead of water, i mixed loads of bm in it which he took. But then i only started weaning him a couple of weeks ago so he is just getting used to eating.

Nappies are wet...so far. But that i think will tail off today. Its hot, he needs fluids.
What can i do to help this?

You poor thing! That sounds awful!

I can't help with advice I'm afraid. I'm sure someone will be along shortly to help.

I was having an issue with my LO. When she tries to bite I pull her away and scream NO. She stopped now. But I know how you feel. I was dreading every feed.

Do you have any Lansinoh? I don't really know how you can stop the biting, other than to keep taking him off and re-latching each time, but I find Lansinoh helps with the pain. My 10 month old clings on with his teeth, it's not his fault (tt and ult means he can't latch properly), but it causes lots of cracked nipples and pain - I smother myself in Lansinoh before and after every feed.

I really want to carry on bf, but lordy the pain is shocking.

He is literally going mad to chomp on anything that goes in his mouth, he bites vigorously on chew toys and is crying allot with teething pain, probably hunger & thirst now too.

Its pitifull, ive never heard him cry so hard.

Do nipple shields help at all?

He has tt but this really hasnt caused any issues with feeding at all.

Can i get Lansinoh from Tesco?

My health visitor told me what to do when this happened and it worked. I went on to feed DS1 till he was three and DS2 till he was two.

If he bites again (sorry, I know you're dreading that), you take him off you, put him down safely and then turn your back on him. I know it sounds mean, but I only had to do this once with both mine and the biting stopped. Also, console yourself with the thought that once your baby is suckling, he can't bite you, as it's impossible to bite and suckle at the same time.

There's some more info here.

Yes, Lansinoh should be in Tesco. It's definitely in Sainsburys (on sale at the moment) and Boots. I get it on prescription - it's worth asking your GP because it's not cheap!

Also, have you tried Anbesol liquid? Rub it on his gums for teething relief. I find Baby Nurofen is more effective on teething pain than Calpol, but you can't give it on an empty stomach.

X-post.

I tried nipple shields when I had thrush in my nipples, but I found them too difficult to use, to be honest. They might help you get through this though.

Actually, if your breasts are that painful, I wonder if you have thrush or an infection? Would it be worth seeing the GP?

Thankyou SO much.
I will give some of the suggestions a go.
I cant leave him with no proper fluid intake in this weather so i can either persevere with the bottle or suffer for another day and hope that he gets it.

I just need to be really vigilant while he is feeding, not so easy at night (he still feeds up to 5 times in the night) and DH is desperate to take over and do some of the feeds, so i do have pressure to use this as an opportunity to move to bottle feeding.

Ive started to give him a small bottle of water with his meals to just play with and try out. He isnt keen, but its a start.

Im so upset because its been going like a dream til now.

I dont think i have thrush, they are painful because they are so full and engorged. I have fed 2-3 hourly for the last 7 months, to suddenly go a whold evening and night means i have a huge build up.

sigh

Will get some baby neurofen too as it lasts up to 12 hours as i recall where as paracetamol only lasts 4-6 hours. Poor little chap.

Well, if you can bear to try again, it will bring relief to both of you. To be honest, he sounds as if he will be too hungry and thirsty to bite you at the moment. He'll just want to feed.

You can give paracetamol and neurofen together, or a few hours apart, to make sure pain relief is constant, but check that it's ok to do that with a seven-month old, as it's a long time since I had such a little one. I know that's what I did when mine were older.

Oh. NHS say not to do that now. Link here. Sorry.

Try everything you can to relieve his teething pain, then give feeding another go. You don't want to risk blocked ducts and mastitis by not relieving your engorgement. If you really can't feed him, have you tried expressing and giving him your milk from a cup? Good luck, I have my fingers crossed for a bite-free feed for you!

I didn't know that Toffee! I often give Calpol, then Nurofen after a couple of hours when teething pain is bad! Thanks for the link.

I think the advice has changed, Dreamy. I know I was advised, by the pharmacist, to give both to my youngest son a few years ago. He was probably about four or five.

Just did it. Kept really close to him so that the whole thing was in his mouth.
Watched and he gulped for Britain bless him.

His nappy from last night is dry
Onwards, onwards....wish me luck xx

It is horrible when they start to bite when teething but i find it passes a few days after each new tooth comes through.

Back to basics with latch nose to nipple, flipple or sandwich your breast in. The more that is in his mouth the harder it is to bite plus then if he does try his teeth are far away from nipple. If he has TT he may have a shallower latch than normal. I also stopped feeding lying down as that made it so much worse I went back to cross cradle hold to control her latch as much as possible. We got through it and still feeding at 11.5 months with 8 teeth now!

Painkillers and teething reins for him.

Plus you need to heal any damage he has caused you. I found jelonet to aid healing and keep nipple amount worked for me plus painkillers 20mins before feeding.

The pain of engoregement from just stopping feeding must be awful so I woul try and find a way to feed as comfortably as possible.

Well done jimijack! Good luck for the next feed. Hope he wets his nappy soon. Feed as often as you can, and keep an eye on him for signs of dehydration.

That's brilliant news, jimijack. I hope it made you both feel better.

Ahhh had a really good night last night. He has nipped once, again i took him off said NO firmly and turned away from him. He cried really hard but got the message.

I have changed my feeding stratergy. Instead of feeding on demand, every 2-3 hours, im trying to get him to 3 hours with distraction.

Increasing his food intake and putting a cup with milk in on his high chair at meal times so he can get used to it. He still will not entertain a bottle even with ebm in.

Lots of wet nappies, we are both far calmer. Its difficult relaxing my shoulders and arms during feeding but im being ultra aware that i am aching from being so tense.

Hopefully we are getting there.
Thanks so much for your very kind words and advice, as always you are all wonderful

That's good news, jimijack. You sound so much happier .

My second son never took a bottle, but took a sippy cup instead, so that was fine and saved spilt milk.