Baby teething advice

fernliebee

The thing is that breast milk is full of natural opiates and actually relieves pain for them, so the problem may not be so much that it is causing her more pain, but rather she is getting frustrated by slow letdown/ being very hungry etc and this coupled with the pain is making her very very upset. Problems it may be as others have suggested a growth spurt, my DD when growing would want to feed but then get really angry as it wasn't filling her up instantly!! She would cry at me and scream, but I would take her off when she was screaming, settle her with singing/ rocking/ shushing and put her back on, then when she was a bit more full then she would settle and feed properly.

The other thing is to maybe take her to GP as a friends dd had recurrent ear infections and they found out about this as she went off breastmilk, as they do have to work for it, and it was irritating her ears. She was treated and all was sorted.

caevans

Thanks. It just seems too much of a coincidence that she is having all the other signs of teething (lots of drooling, red cheeks etc) as well as the pains when feeding. Logically it has to be teething that is causing problems feeding. She has had plenty of growth spurts before, so I know that it isn't that. She had one a couple of weeks ago, thankfully before her teething problems.
Good to know that breastmilk helps to relieve pain though.

xxvickixx

For babies who are teething the action of breastfeeding may make the pain worse. If she is really struggling is it possible for you to express some milk to give in a cup or a bottle? That way you are able to relieve her pain, maintain your milk supply (as you are not replacing a feed with formula so supply and demand is still operational), and you are giving her breastmilk which will help with the pain as well as being what you seem to want to give her primarily.

Some mums freeze their expressed breastmilk into sticks (ikea sell stick trays) or ice lolly trays so that their babys can use them to teeth on as the cold helps somtimes.

Hope your little one is feeling better soon and you find a solution that works for you both x

daphne_descends

If you switched from breastfeeding to fully formula feeding, and then she started behaving this way with bottles, would you feel upset that you'd given up for nothing?

Have you tried bonjela or teething granules?

caevans

Thanks Vicki. You have just reminded me I froze lots of breastmilk when my milk came in as I had superfast let down and needed to do something with it!!! Will go and defrost some now! (after I check guidelines on how long it keeps....)

xxvickixx

It will be good for at least 6 months if stored correctly, I think the guidelines may have increased to 12 months recently but is at least 6. If you wrap one end of the frozen bit in a clean muslin you will be able to let her gum the frozen lump, might get a bit messy though!

feelinggood_2

caevans wrote: »

Thanks Vicki. You have just reminded me I froze lots of breastmilk when my milk came in as I had superfast let down and needed to do something with it!!! Will go and defrost some now! (after I check guidelines on how long it keeps....)

A good link on breastmilk storage:
http://kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkstorage.html

If you are still having problems in a few days, I can highly recommend La Leche League, the ladies who work on the helpline are amazing.

Greener_Grass

My son did this exact same thing at 5 months which was very distressing for both of us. I think in the end he just preffered the bottle. I spent weeks trying to get him to breastfeed again but to no avail. He would have one or two feeds a day from me but was very fussy apart from that, This eventually dried up till he wouldn't breastfeed at all. I have continued to express for him since this and am still doing so now. I figure he's better off getting my milk out a bottle than not at all, Yes it's alot more effort sterilising bottles, breast pump etc but it's free and doesn't take up much time (i only express once or twice a day) so will be continuing for the forseeable future.

Good luck whatever you choose to do, as someone has already said, 4 months is great so well done

caevans

Thanks! the calpol obviously did the trick tonight as she fed with little problem, which was really nice. Both of us are happy! Obviously not the solution for during the day, but will try and work something out. Fingers crossed this will pass and she will start feeding without problems again.
Thanks everyone for the advice

jackomdj

Teenie_D wrote: »

Personally I found the gels didn't work that well as the gel kept sliding of my finger, but you get a liquid called ambesol and it is really good as well.

We used ambesol on both ours & it is fantastic. You have to get it from behind the counter & make sure you get the liquid form. I tried it on myself & it totally numbs your gums so you can understand why it works so well on LO's. I have reccomended it to so many friends & always had great feedback.

HTH Nicky