11 wk old teething - worried how this will affect bfeeding

[sushistar]

He's teething already
Isn't 11 weeks really really early?
I'm really worried how this will affect our breastfeeding. I'm so scared of being bitten...

he mught be teething but the teeth might not come for a few weeks. And they don't always bite just because they have teeth!

blimey, that is early! are you sure he's teething? what are the signs?

Ds got his first tooth around this time too, sometimes it can take ages for them to come through though.

To be honest its only when they get one top and one bottom that you need to really worry... I got nipped a few times but no lasting damage

i have just stopped feeding my DD who is 13 months and was also an early teether, I had no problems.
As tommy said the actual teeth could take a long while to show through yet, younger babies rarely use their teeth when feeding (in my experience anyway I have breast fed 3)

DS is 12mo, has seven very sharp little gnashers but is still BF, he has never bitten me -- seems to instinctively know not to. I think the 'biting' action of the mouth is quite different to the 'sucking' one.

DS is 18 months and has all but 4 of his milk teeth, he still feeds twice a day. He bit me once or twice at around 9/10 months when he was teething his top teeth. It did bloody hurt but I'd read up on a few techniques on MN and he didn't do it again.

Even if the teeth do come through early, it shouldn't affect your bf relationship. You may get tiny nips in the first couple of days of each new tooth, as he adjusts to having it, but it shouldn't be any worse than that.

Top tip if he does bite is, contrary to what you might expect, to pull him in to the breast. This blocks his nose so he opens his mouth and releases the breast. Also gives him a shock, so he is less likely to do it again.

My dd (age 2) has 16 teeth, but it hasn't stopped us feeding.

Symptoms are LOTS of dribble, gnawing hands, being sick a lot more and... a tiny white dot of tooth showing through his bottom gum on one side, and the tooth beeing really clear (but still under the gum) on the other. It is teething, right? I dunno, I thought we had this breastfeeding thing sussed but the prospect of teeth has really thrown me. I felt really positive about it before, but not now.

Sushi - i only ask because ds had all tose symptoms but it turned out to be an epstein's pearl

totally agree with CSWS - if/when he does bite you, sort of "smoosh' him with the breast, he won't do it again!! you've done really well getting this far, just see how it goes!

I fed through the arrival of 12 teeth. When a sharp little new one is breaking through it can be a bit sore if you just get the angle of latch so it's catching, but I can't say I ever really had a problem. Even the biting was far worse in ancicipation that when it actually happened.

If you can see the tooth then yes, it does sound like it'll probably pop through soon. But please don't worry too much about how it will affect feeding. BF is actually brilliant when they are teething as it can soothe them when they are grumpy.

Sushi, please don't worry.... I think I'm right in saying that they cover their lower teeth with their tongues while they're actually sucking, so they can't bite at the same time.

Not to say you won't get bitten at all, but it will only be a couple of times and not while he's really feeding properly.

DD's first tooth appeared at 16 weeks (so presumably she had been teething for a while before that but it didn't occur to me!). I carried on bf until she had a full set of teeth, with no ill-effects!

Ohhhh, urbandryad, thanks for the link - I wonder if it's a 'bohn's nodule'...

...or maybe I'm trying to convince myself it's not a tooth...