Ouch! Not biting, per se, but more "latching with teeth"?

[@llli*sarabei]

My son just turned 17 months, and for the past few weeks, he has been really rough. I'm sure he's teething, and he's not really biting in the "chomping down" way, but I feel like he's latching with his teeth. At first it just hurt, and I'd take him off to give them a break, but it started happening more and more, and he started leaving teethmark indentions on the top of my nipples. Now it's gotten to the point where they're bleeding. When I take him off the breast (after telling him 'gentle gentle', 'no biting', 'no teeth', etc...) he freaks out, but he still does it. It's almost like he can't help it.

There is one position where he doesn't do that. When we lay down, instead of being belly to belly, I lay with my feet on one end, and his are at the other (kind of like if we were doing the reverse football hold, but laying down, if that makes sense?). He nurses just fine, but since it's so different, he thinks it's a funny jokey thing, and nurses for awhile, comes off and laughs, nurses, laughs, and on and on, which is fine, but not when I'm trying to get him to nap. I didn't know if anyone else had experience with this, or could help me come up with another position since this one is not very convenient.

I was actually starting to wean, just gradually trying to distract him during his non-sleepy feedings and give him a limit during his sleepy feeds. He loves nursing, so I wanted to make it a gentle transition for him, not him going into hysterics because I won't give him his num-nums because they're "broken".

[@llli*smileyface]

I've had a similar experience with our 14-month-old daughter, although my nipples haven't gotten to the point of bleeding. FWIW, I just grinned and bore it and eventually (after about two weeks), my nipples toughened up.

I don't know if this is feasible for you given the bleeding. It seems your son might be "biting" harder. I just didn't want you to think you're alone. You're not.

Has Lansinoh helped soothe the pain at all? It might help stop the bleeding. Possibly.

I wish I had something more useful to suggest. Hopefully, someone more knowledgeable than me will chime in.

[@llli*duckpond]

Ouch! Changing positions can help, as you've found. Any position that tilts his head pretty far back will help. Sometimes you can keep the same positions, but move him lower down so that he has to look up to get to your nipple.

[@llli*phi]

I need to switch up positions and relatch a lot during teething. Sometimes if I have him sit pretty upright when I nurse him he latches a little better. I need him to let go and relatch pretty frequently no matter what, though. We're dealing with canines right now too, and they have been pretty miserable. Usually my son's latch improves again once a tooth cuts through.

[@llli*sarabei]

Thank you all! Yesterday he did really good the first time we nursed, but then went right back to the same habits. I'll continue trying new positions and hope that when the tooth comes in, it will go back to normal.