As of last night, Little Man has eight teeth plus a few tell-tale angry looking whitish bumps. Did I ever think I would be nursing a baby with teeth? Nope. Do I have plans of weaning? Nope. Is it as bad as you would think? Not in the least.
In my pre-pregnancy state I did not have very many breastfeeding role models to look to. Sure I was breastfed as a baby, but my mother loved to recount the story of why she weaned me at a year. I bit her. Apparently I bit her once, she cried out and then I bit her again and laughed about it. My mother was done and I'm pretty certain we stopped cold turkey as I was right around a year. My husband's cousin nursed her two girls, but weaned at a year. So my understanding of breastfeeding did not include teeth or the possibility of teeth because everyone I knew weaned when there was teeth. The one exception was my father's cousin's wife nursed her daughter until she was five but I didn't have much contact with them as we live in different countries.
I did not have a goal with breastfeeding either once Little Man was born. I didn't put much thought into my decision to breastfeed either-my mother did it, so I would too. That was how a lot of my decisions used to be made. It wasn't until I was home, alone with a baby, having quite a difficult experience with breastfeeding that I started to develop my own thoughts on the subject. I started talking to other mothers on blogs and message boards and decided that we would nurse until we were both ready to stop.
At around five months, Little Man cut his first tooth. I didn't even know it until it was already there. Now at ten and half months he has eight teeth. I don't know those are there either except when he falls asleep and lets his tongue slide out of place. Has he bit me? Yes. Did it hurt? Yes. Is that a reason to stop, for us? No. Do I think everyone should do this? Only if you are comfortable with it, I just want you to know it is possible.
Nursing with teeth is not out of the question because it all has to do with good nursing habits. If your child has a proper latch it prevents the teeth from coming in contact while nursing. If your child does rub against you, they are probably at the end of their session anyway and should be removed. Another good thing is, they will get the point if you hurt mommy, nothing comes out and tend not to continue biting.
In my pre-pregnancy state I did not have very many breastfeeding role models to look to. Sure I was breastfed as a baby, but my mother loved to recount the story of why she weaned me at a year. I bit her. Apparently I bit her once, she cried out and then I bit her again and laughed about it. My mother was done and I'm pretty certain we stopped cold turkey as I was right around a year. My husband's cousin nursed her two girls, but weaned at a year. So my understanding of breastfeeding did not include teeth or the possibility of teeth because everyone I knew weaned when there was teeth. The one exception was my father's cousin's wife nursed her daughter until she was five but I didn't have much contact with them as we live in different countries.
I did not have a goal with breastfeeding either once Little Man was born. I didn't put much thought into my decision to breastfeed either-my mother did it, so I would too. That was how a lot of my decisions used to be made. It wasn't until I was home, alone with a baby, having quite a difficult experience with breastfeeding that I started to develop my own thoughts on the subject. I started talking to other mothers on blogs and message boards and decided that we would nurse until we were both ready to stop.
At around five months, Little Man cut his first tooth. I didn't even know it until it was already there. Now at ten and half months he has eight teeth. I don't know those are there either except when he falls asleep and lets his tongue slide out of place. Has he bit me? Yes. Did it hurt? Yes. Is that a reason to stop, for us? No. Do I think everyone should do this? Only if you are comfortable with it, I just want you to know it is possible.
Nursing with teeth is not out of the question because it all has to do with good nursing habits. If your child has a proper latch it prevents the teeth from coming in contact while nursing. If your child does rub against you, they are probably at the end of their session anyway and should be removed. Another good thing is, they will get the point if you hurt mommy, nothing comes out and tend not to continue biting.
Excellent! Sharing this. :)
ReplyDeleteI don't think my first comment went through, but sorry if you hear from me twice! ;)
ReplyDeleteI came over from Dulce's link on facebook and am following you here and on facebook! :)
My 14 month old daughter has 6 teeth and we're still going strong! :)
http://www.fineandfair.blogspot.com/
My 9 month old has 6 teeth and has been quite bitey since his front top ones came in, especially when he was just getting used to them. Then it got better, but he's been chewing on me lately when he's sleepy. I plan on going at least till he's two, so I hope I can get him to cut it out!
ReplyDelete@Dulce- Thanks:) @Joella- Thank you for following. I'm following you as well. Glad you are sticking with it. @Erin- I typically remove Little Man when he begins to fall asleep. I get a little warning before he really bites as his jaw starts to tremble. Watch for that sign and see if you can remove before the bite. Otherwise take your son off immediately and do something else. They do connect the action very quickly.
ReplyDeleteMy mom stopped nursing me when I bit her too! She loves telling me that story now that I have my own little nurser.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious to see what teeth with do to our nursing. I can't imagine him giving up nursing, so I'm sure if a bite happens, we will both recover and keep on nursing. We'll see though...