Does teething cause baby to stop feeding?

[JPK123]

My baby is 20 weeks and for past 5 weeks been feeding really badly during day - latches on, few sucks then pulls off and cries if try to re-latch, stuffs fists into mouth MAJORLY. bonjela etc not helping massively. seems to have top 2 teeth appearing.

weight gain has stopped, dropped lots of centiles and being referred to paeds but think it may be due to fussiness around teething.

has anyone else had this problem?

am also part of another thread where fast let down been mentioned but dont think this is case for me.

im getting so stressed about it - any help really appreciated.

Hi there when my DS was a baby I did feel that teething affected his feeding (cut his first teeth at 11 weeks and they all followed fairly rapidly). He seemed hungry but would pull back after a few sucks and start crying. Sometimes he wouldn't try again, other times he was more willing to persevere.

It was hard to be sure if this was the cause but my instincts told me that teething pain could be the cause, and my HV said it was a possibility.

Have you considered trying some calpol- this may reduce his pain and make him more willing to feed. I realise you wouldn't want to do this day in and day out but if it helps then you could deduce that the problem is related to some sort of pain.

Good luck.....

thanks for your reply.

will try some calpol.

was it worse with first teeth (am hoping youll say yes!)?

did it go on for long?

am not sure it should cause weight to falter.

hoping will resolve

cheers

My DD also did this. Apparently the sucking increases blood flow to the gums and so increases the pain. It was only on-and-off though, and not for long, but ye, it was only for the first teeth (2 bottom ones at 4mo). I would second the calpol.