Sudden shallow latch at 5 months

[LCF2021]

Hi all.

My DD is coming up to 5 months and although we’ve had a rough time of breastfeeding it finally began to feel more comfortable at about 13 weeks. However, over the last couple of days she’s gone back to feeding with a really shallow latch, clamping down on the nipple and it’s so painful. She has a cold at the moment so wondered if it could be the fact that she’s snotty and struggling to breathe so I’m giving her saline spray and using some baby olbas oil on my top to see if that helps when feeding. She’s very dribbly at the mo too so thought possibly teething but I can’t see any sign of any teeth in the gums and I don’t remember this happening with my DS.
Any suggestions?! My poor nipples are really feeling the effects.

Oh poor you! How are things going today @LCF2021?

@PanicBuyingSprouts Still very tricky. I just wish I knew how to fix it. We weren’t working with a great latch anyway but I’d gotten used to it but now it feels like the early days again. She’s doing a lot of this funny little sucking with her lips so I wonder if it could be teeth troubling her

Oh it could be. Have you tried her with some Ibruprofen and a teething gel?

I'd give one of the BFing helplines a call as well, they might have some ideas

Going to give her some nurofen tonight and see if I can dig out some gel from when my son was teething. Thank you!

Could you not give the nurofen now so that she's feeling a bit better for bedtime?