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
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