Breastfeeding May Never Be Easy

This was originally written on Wednesday, October 29, 2008:

I've been doing it for six months and it's still hard work. Last night I posted that Logan cut his first two teeth and I wasn't concerned about it being a problem with breastfeeding. Over twenty-four hours later I still haven't felt any biting while he's nursing. . .so then what's the problem?

I decided to pump today while Logan was taking a nap and I noticed blood going into the breastmilk! I gasped and immediately stopped, not sure if something was wrong with my breastmilk because at first glance I looked fine. But then I looked closer and couldn't believe what I saw--SEVERAL dark red marks all over both of the bottoms of my nipples! Clearly he IS biting but I must have built up a tolerance to what I feel because I had no idea. I remember my What to Expect Book said that although many women give up nursing once their baby gets teeth, they don't have to. Okay. . .then how do you continue?

I looked up online and found the same advice the What to Expect book said, which is not helpful for my situation:

Nursing a baby with teeth should not be painful. While your baby is nursing, his tongue extends over his gum line, and covers his lower teeth. Properly positioned during a feed, your nipple is also positioned far back in his mouth, very well protected from his new teeth.

Sometimes a baby will bite. He may have sore gums from teething. Most often, your startled reaction will be enough to stop the biting. If he continues, you should stop the feed (temporarily), gently removing him from your breast, and say, "No biting Mommy -- biting hurts!" Wait a minute or so to resume breastfeeding. Most biting happens at the end of a feed, when your baby is no longer actively sucking.
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First of all, Logan is six months old, so he doesn't understand the words "no biting"--but even more so, since I can't even feel him biting, how am I supposed to know when he's doing it? I am confident he is properly positioned--I worked with several lactation consultants in the beginning to make sure of this. Needless to say, I called my pediatrician's office for their advice.

Usually when I call, I talk to his nurse. She's always been super nice and VERY helpful. This time I don't know who I talked to--if she was new or what--but she was the complete opposite! I had left a message explaining my situation but she must not have listened because when she called back she was like, "What's going on?" So I repeated everything. She paused and was like, "Hmm, I've never had any calls about this before."

O-KAY.

She asked me how old he was (again) and I said "Six months." She was like, "Oh yeah, we recommend you breastfeed for a year."

I-KNOW!!!!

I was so amazed at how awful she was that I didn't even get upset. I've been through so many bumps in the road with breastfeeding that this was just another one--I'm beyond getting overwhelmed and/or crying about it anymore. I made it through the most important part: the first six months.

Still, I want to be 100% confident that when I make the decision to say "I'm done" that I'm 100% ready to be done. So, I said, "I'm wondering how women who continue to a year do it if their baby gets teeth before then."

She said "just a minute," she'd ask our pediatrician's nurse. (Too bad she couldn't have called me in the first place.) The woman came back on the phone and said, "She says that when he bites to break his latch and relatch him properly." I rolled my eyes because I'd already told her that I'd heard that tip but couldn't feel him bite. She was like, "Oh yeah, well I guess it's up to you what you do, if you want to continue or not."

I decided that was enough of talking to her so I thanked her and said goodbye. Hopefully she's not answering calls for new breastfeeding moms out there.

My mom suggested I just put nipple cream on and maybe they will toughen up--but my "injuries" are pretty bad. If I continue to nurse before they heal it's like having a scab and picking it every day.

I'm continuing to read advice on the internet, but I haven't found anything that's really motivating. Other places have said that if you don't leave your baby on when he's not sucking then he won't bite. Call me lazy, but for the past month or two Logan only nurses for 10 minutes rather than the typical 20 (which it takes me to pump) because at 10 minutes he begins to lose speed and take a breath--and so I unlatch him and generally he doesn't cry for more.

I've spent so much of these six months-and-eleven days pumping that I can spend the rest of this week pumping to see if my nipples heal and then I will try it again and see if I can tell when he's biting to follow the above advice. BUT, if it happens again I've made the decision that I'm done. I don't know if it's knowing that my nipples are bleeding or if it's just a delayed reaction but now I AM feeling sore. :/ I'm going to put ice on, but the blood still scares me. The lady on the phone said that it's not harmful to Logan and to not freak out if I see it when I change his diaper.

The breastfeeding experience has been one of the most difficult of my life (you can read my nursing summary on the following two posts: Breastfeeding Rollercoaster and Okay. . .I'm Ready For My First Break). I'm going to pump for as long as I can in order to keep Logan getting the benefits of breastmilk, but I've accepted that I'm probably not going to make it to his brachial cleft surgery. :(

Ending on a brighter note, today Sarah S. was induced 6 days before her due date and gave birth to a 7 lb, 11 oz. 20.5 inch boy! (Very similar to Logan's size--Logan was two ounces bigger, but otherwise had the exact same measurements!) Here's a pic of Logan nursing, I never would have thought I'd post a picture on the internet since I've never even nursed in public before, but I thought this was neat because it came out kind of arsty and modest.