Ouch! How to Breastfeed a Teething Baby?

Babies’ first teeth start to appear around 6 months, you can see little teeth in their gums popping out. Pain, gum soreness kick in when babies are having teething. 

Most breastfeeding mums face a similar situation, babies constantly ‘biting’ or ‘chewing’ the breast while nursing just to ease the teething pain. It hurts when your baby is biting and it makes each nursing session less bearable. Some mums then started to doubt, should they keep on breastfeeding? 

Teething does not equal weaning off

You don’t need to stop breastfeeding just because your bub is growing teeth. There are plenty of ways to overcome the discomfort during breastfeeding when your baby is undergoing teething, keep reading to find out. 

Plus, breastfeeding helps to soothe your baby when she’s in pain or uncomfortable.

Breastfeeding while Teething

When you’re nursing a teething baby you might notice she’s latching on differently, it might be the way she tilted her head or the way she opened her mouth, you might feel a bit unusual and uncomfortable with the changes. 

The most noticeable sign of baby teething is when she started biting your breast. Ouch! Here are some solutions to solve that problem. 

Solution 1: Adjust the breastfeeding position

Test and trial different breastfeeding positions. A correct latch-on position should prevent the baby from biting your breast as her teeth will be under the tongue when sucking.  

Solution 2: Hand expression

Hand expresses your milk out as a ‘warm-up’ so when your baby latches on, the milk flows out smoothly. 

Solution 3: Teething Toy/ Ring 

Provide an alternative for your baby to chew on. There are plenty of teething toys, rings designed to chew, suck but also providing a massaging sensation. Having your baby chew on a teething ring before feeding can lessen the chances of your baby biting your breast during nursing.

Some frozen teething toys numb and ease the baby’s soreness, the numbness could affect the baby latching on correctly if you use frozen teething toys immediately before nursing. 

Keep breastfeeding, don’t give up!