[Jule'sMomInOR]

So far, nursing a toddler is hard than nursing a newborn.

Juliana's teeth are constantly scraping against my nipple. Not biting, but constantly there. She broke the skin on one of my nipples and I had a scab that looked like it was about to get infected, so I'm doing 3X daily saline water rinsed. I can only nurse with her upside down on that side. Still, it's taking forever for the scab to heal because she keeps getting it with her teeth. She's nursing every 1-2 hours day AND night, and this acrobatic stuff is hard when I'm so groggy. She also constantly pinches, hits, and scratches. And of course there's the popping on and off, which is tough on my sore nipples. Is there anything I can do besides wait it out? This phase has already gone on for over a month! I did order a nursing necklace so I hope that helps.

[Madigan]

Congrats to you for sticking with it!!

Yes, it will get easier and the challenges will simply become different. Is she able to understand that the teeth hurt? My kiddo (now 2.5) will bite down while nursing and leave "teeth marks" in my breast. The rule is that if she is using her teeth she has to relatch and if she can't latch on without her teeth, then she can't bf. We started this around 18-20 months though (that was when it became a problem, but i was also pregnant and she didn't have the same supply)

The same of acrobatic nursing, if she wasn't able to nurse in a way that was respectful to me, then no nursing. It's not easy and you have to be very consistent. But if you set the boundaries, you might have an easier time of it.

It seems like she nurses a lot! Have you tried distracting her with snacks/drinks when she first makes a request? I found that my dd did better when she nursed when she nursed less often. We're down to 2x a day now. And we still have our struggles!!

[mgm78]

DD nursed that much at that age, i know how hard it is. Do you have triple nipple cream? I would even try that. Or just neosporin and wipe it off before feeding. I wrestled with DD to keep her kind of calm during nursing sessions, which was not always successful, but worth a shot. I would make sure she has a proper latch, that way she will not bite you or leave teeth marks on you. Also, you can try to distract her with drinks, food, toys, etc. I find if DD is really distracted she can go a whole day without nursing, last Tuesday we were busy and she went 9:30am to 7:30pm without nursing, but if we had been home all day and not doing much, she would have nursed nonstop.