Very sore and bruised nipples

[Lunalovepud]

Hi all,

Just looking for a bit of reassurance that this is normal I guess...

DD is 5 months old and exclusively breastfeed through the day and night time with a couple of top up feeds in the evening.

Over the last few days she has been very distracted during feeds and keeps pulling off of the breast and my poor nipples are really sore, to the point that they are toe curlingly painful at initial latch like they were when she was born.

After let down happens it's fine and the rest of the feed is painless, just with the soreness when she pulls off of the breast. I have had a look in her mouth and there are no signs of thrush and I have no lumpy bits or symptoms of mastitis. She has recently acquired a couple of teeth on the bottom but they made no difference to her latch and she isn't biting or scratching me with them.

I guess I am wondering if this is a common thing? Could it be the upper teeth? (I can't see anything) Is there anything I can do about it?

Thanks all.

Being distracted in the day is normal I'm afraid as baby gets more aware of their surroundings. You can try feeding to a schedule during the day to make sure baby is more hungry. You can try giving the formula feeds during the day and bf in the evening and at night.

When DS started to get distracted he was around 5 months so I started offering food and feeding less often during the day. Switched to formula in the day at 10 months and honestly it was a relief not to have him pulling on and off being nosy!