The Truth About Teething While Nursing

While pregnant and taking breastfeeding classes I was thrilled about the prospect of breastfeeding but I was scared as ever about the idea of my little baby having teeth AND breastfeeding. That just sounds like a very bad combination.

Baby Bear was born and breastfeeding commenced. We worked hard on it. I was lucky to get to work with a lactation consultant in the first 48 hours of his life. She came to almost every daytime feeding. She was great. She described what a good latch would feel like. She told me to massage the milk ducts to get maximum milk. I think that Aki Bear gained back his birth weight and more so quickly because of what I learned from the lactation consultant. There were a couple of times where he wasn't latched and caused some soreness on one of my nipples and every time he nursed on that side I would scrunch up my face because he would re-aggravate it but after the initial latch the pain would disappear as he would continue suckling. It's like having a blister and then going out the next day to tend to the garden again and yep, it still hurts but each day it gets better because the blister heals and eventually toughens up and gets used to those repetitive actions. Eventually my nipple healed and got tougher and didn't hurt anymore.

At 5 months Aki Bear got his first two teeth. Tiny, white and very sharp. I could feel them. That's it. I would be nursing him and I could tell he had two little teeth. He didn't bite but I was waiting for that moment for him to bite. He is about six and a half months now, that's 1.5 months with teeth. He has accidentally bitten me twice. I probably said, "YOW!" but never shoved him away or dropped him because the bite came while he was pulling himself off. He's so dramatic when he's done eating. It reminds me of that finger in your mouth popping technique (finger=nipple):

Those two bites caused a soreness. Every time he nursed on that one side his two little teeth were little reminders of those initial bites and I gave that same scrunched up face. One week later that soreness is gone. I still feel his little teeth but it doesn't hurt. I am also not fearful of being bitten even after I've been bitten twice. He is doing it accidentally so it's gentle and over in a flash; he is not chomping down as if to bite off a piece of carrot. I now have a new fear of when he gets teeth on the top. That'll be more scary than a gum top/tooth bottom bite. I'll let you know. Wish the nipples luck.