breast feeding

[katebest]

how long do you usually breast feed for? i am worried about teething and still breast feeding?

Everyone is different of course - but there is no reason why teething should stop you feeding. My dd got her first tooth at 5 months, and I fed her till she was nearly 2, by which time she had a whole mouthful.

She nipped me a few times around 7-8 months. I always just took her off, said no really firmly and if she did it twice I ended the feed. She soon stopped.

Normally when feeding they have their tongue over the lower teeth anyway. So it's only the upper teeth that rest slightly on the breast. I did used to have slight teeth marks after a feed - that sounds so much worse than it is - imagine if you rest your finger nails lightly on the back of your hand for 30 seconds - you will see finger nail marks, but it doesn't hurt you in any way. It's a similar thing.

Happy feeding - however long you decide to do it for.

As long as you or your baby wants to. I fed mine for a year - he got his first tooth about 9 months. He bit me a couple of times but that was all.

It is good to be able to feed when they are teething because they often go off food and want to feed more.

I fed DS2 until 16 months. The teeth were not a problem. The way I looked at it was that their teeth are all there just under the gum anyway making the gums very hard, the first teeth usually come in at the bottom and are covered by the baby's tongue whilst feeding by which time your confidence will be built up and teeth won't be such a scary prospect, the top ones come in and IME were not a problem at all, sometimes I would have a little discomfort whilst feeding which I thought was the teeth but a slight adjustment in position usually helped that. DS2 only nipped me a couple of times but I believe if they really do bite you need to push their faces into your breast so they can't breathe and have to let go of your nipple and accompany that with a stern "no", sounds cruel but so is someone plunging their teeth into your nipple.

Oh and I had the similar teeth marks to pidge and agree it sounds worse than it is.

I'll have to take a bit of a guess at what you are getting at. Are you saying you are worried about being bitten? If that is it, can I say that I breastfed for 16months and my DS nipped me on two occasions, around when he just got his 4th tooth - 2 up 2 down. I squeeled very loudly - surprise more than anything and took him off and he learnt not to do it.

Basically the longer you breastfeed the better for the baby and the better for you, but the general rule of thumb is that the first 6months is great. My goal was 12mths, for a lot of reasons incl that I thought I was too lazy to sterilise and mix up formula and at 12mths you can give them cows milk and skip that stage altogether.

Also my mum tells the story that she breastfed me till I got my first tooth and bit her - to which her reaction was to throw me across the room where I landed on another couch - thankfully. I never did like that story much, and now with some experience to go on can honestly say that I think her reaction was utterly over the top.

I bf for two years, and teeth aren't a problem. Like some of the others, my dd did nip me, just once, and my reaction (I shrieked quite loudly, as it was unexpected) upset her so much that she never did it again.

Feed for as short or long a time as you want to. There are no rights and wrongs, only what is right or wrong for you. Just relax and enjoy it for as long as you want to.

Just going to echo the previous 2 posters!
They seem to stop nipping after they've done it a couple of times and realise mum doesn't like it and will stop the feed if they do it. Ds is now 22 months and still has 1 or 2 feeds a day.

Some babies also don't get teeth until a year, anyway. Mine got bottom teeth at 3 months (so no, I didn't stop feeding because of them, even though some people still advised me to!) The bottom teeth were absolutely not a problem. The top ones are more of an issue (she's 8 months now and has 7 teeth), and when she's utterly totally miserable she's bitten me while nursing 3 times. It doesn't have to do with teething, though; she's quite clear that she wants more resistant things to gnaw on while teething.

My ds is 20 months, has all his teeth and is still breastfeeding. The bottom ones make no difference as the tongue is over them. As for the top ones well I think it must have to do with the fact that their mouth is a lot bigger than a newborn, so their gums aren't as close to the action IYSWIM. It's not as many times a day either so it's quite a hard thing to imagine if your baby is still very new. Babies can do more damage to a nipple when they are newborn than most with teeth.

Not every baby will bite, and if they do it once they may never do it again. I got sick of my mum saying I would stop the first time he bit, but it did give me a come back to "why are you still feeding him at 20 months?" I said "well he hasn't bit me yet and you said I would give up then!"