Breastfeeding Adn Teething.

Break the latch. Reposition him. Try a different hold. If he really chomps, say No! and take a short break. Also, if he's teething, give him pain meds as necessary and give him other things to teethe on so he doesn't use you. I found with my DD that new teeth meant a reminder on how to properly latch, but it was quickly overcome. Don't give up!

My daughter just learned not to bite because i would take the breast away and frown when she "got" me. Now shes getting her two year molars, i still breastfeed at night, never a problem.

Seems you may be more 'afraid' of him biting than of him actually biting. As long as you practice the "No biting" and taking off from the breast with a wait until another time... say it sternly and consistently, etc - then you will not have an issue. You will get used to 'feeling' the teeth as he suckles.

You could try a nipple shield to put a barrier between your skin and his teeth.

This answer is partially from 2 of my friends. One who is a LLL leader and the other who is a lactation consultant who is raising 5 children. They concur with the responses that have said be firm and take him off the breast when he bites with a firm verbal no bitting. Then reposition. Give great praise when he is suckling well. NEVER use a breast shield for this issue!!. If he is having a hard time with teething, you can try Hyland's teething tablets or just plain homeopathic chammomillia.

I breastfed my older daughter until she was almost three so, needless to say, she had almost her full set of teeth and we never had any issues. She bit a few times when she was teething -- you know the stage where if it is in mouth range it is bitten! After that she learned not to bite and we never had any trouble. My younger daughter on the other hand is now 10.5 months old and has 5 teeth and uses them on me while BFing. I thought I was going to have to wean her after she bit me so hard that when I pumped it looked like tomato soup! We made it past that rough patch and she has not bitten since so I am happy to continue nursing her.
I think if your son isn't biting you should be fine but so what works for you and him. I am a strong believer in the benefits (to both mom and baby) of breastfeeding, and I also acknowledge that it just sometimes doesn't work for one reason or another and you have to do what is right for you and your child. (Obviously you know this because of your other two children!)
Good luck!

Hi A.,
I'm still breastfeeding our 18 mo old and I only feel his teeth when he's stopped nursing, but it doesn't hurt unless he bites (and we did the same thing you're doing to stop that). When babies nurse, the tongue covers the bottom teeth so you shouldn't feel them while he's actively nursing. When he's not actively nursing, just hanging on for comfort perhaps and the teeth are bothering you, you can always break the latch by sticking your pinkie in the corner of his mouth.
Good luck!

It is tough, no question. I breastfed my son until he was one and he only bit once or twice and I didn't have an issue with feeling his teeth, but for some reason with my daughter, it was an issue. She got her first teeth before she was even five months old and I was not happy about it! I didn't have any issue with her bottom teeth (you shouldn't be able to feel them during nursing because their tongue is supposed to be over their teeth so maybe ask a lactation consultant about that) but once she got her top teeth, she started biting me. I did everything I read about to help and she would still bite me at times. By the time she was about eleven months old, she was biting more frequently and had like six teeth so that was one reason I went ahead and weaned her and honestly, I felt like it was a sign she was ready, too, b/c she wasn't as focused on nursing anymore and I simply didn't offer again and she never "asked" to nurse again. Suggestions I read for when they actually purposely bite is firmly saying "no" and removing the baby from your breast for a minute and possibly offering a teething ring if it seems like that is the issue but I don't know what to tell you about just feeling the teeth other than I got used to it and while it was less comfortable than without the teeth, I could handle it fine as long as she didn't chomp down!

I have breastfed all three of my children. I stopped right before my first child got her first tooth (scared of her biting me - I was young and niave), second I breastfed her until I had to return to work. My third little one is now 17 months and he is mainly on sippy but every now and then still nurses. When he started getting teeth, I was a bit nervous but I went with it. He did chomp down several times - talk about pain!!! I read some article that a man wrote saying when this happens to try not to react dramatically because it would frightened the child. Ha! I wanted to contact him and say, let me bite down on your nipple and see if you can react calmly. LOL...However, when my son did bite down, I tried to hold back my reaction and I would get him to realise and we would wait for a bit before trying again. There were times when he would fall asleep and then chomp down. That was difficult. I had to try pry is mouth open and pull myself out. The good news however is that he hardly ever does that anymore. It only happened a few times. Just try to redirect him if he starts to bite. If he continues to do it, you may have to resort to just pumping. But give him some time, he should learn how to nurse without biting down. If he starts to bite down, that's usually a sign that he's done. Good luck.