Hi, there!

I received the following from Debbi Seligsohn, who lives in Taiwan, and can't
find any LC help there.  With her permission, I'm including her e-mail address.
Please send her a cc: of any answers you post.

From [log in to unmask] (Deborah J. Seligsohn)

>I posted a couple of days ago on the problems I am having with my 19 mo.
>old's teeth.  He doesn't bite me, per se, or rather he doesn't bite me when
>I'm nursing.  He does sometimes bite at other times, but I think that's
>unrelated.  The problem when I am nursing is that as he falls asleep he
>lets his mouth close slowly, letting the top teeth sink into my skin.  If
>he exposes the bottom teeth, which he does sometimes, I remind him to
>cover them with his tongue, and he does.  But with the top teeth, it's
>really hard.  He doesn't open his mouth wide enough, and it is really
>uncomfortable.  As he falls completely asleep he shuts his mouth.  As
>long as I'm awake, I spot this moment and shove my finger in and remove
>him as he clamps down -- and hopefully remove my finger before he
>clamps.  But the other day I fell asleep when he was nursing and awoke to
>the most painful bite I have ever experienced.  I am sure it was in no
>way deliberate, because despite my screaming in pain, and thrashing
>around awkwardly as I removed him, he slept through the whole thing.  It
>just seems to be how he relaxes his jaw.  The whole thing is really
>painful for me.  I'm getting more and more sore.  I heard from one other
>person on Parent-L who is having a similar problem, her child sinks the
>upper teeth in when awake, but I haven't gotten any advise, save to tell
>him he is hurting mother.  Since I don't think the problem is deliberate
>-- or even that he is conscious while he does it -- telling him not to
>hurt me doesn't seem like it would help.   Do you have any advise for
>me, or any suggestion on how to contact a lactation consultant on the
>internet?  I do not believe there are any in Taiwan.  When Aaron was a
>baby we suck-trained him, and he really liked sucking our fingers, so we
>gave them to him until he had teeth, at which time he rejected them.  I
>was hoping someone would have some suggestion on how to retrain him,
>although I can't imagine what that would be, since he won't let a finger
>anywhere near his mouth.  I really want to keep nursing him and I feel
>that he very much needs it, but I am in increasing pain.  (I didn't
>nurse my first so long and regret that, but that is another long story.)

Although it's difficult to solve problems by e-mail, the unavailability of other
channels makes it necessary to try.

Thanks for your help.

Jonathan