So now that I have lulled you all into a false sense of blissful crafting peace and happiness on my blog I will share some overly personal information with you. My bosoms are sore!
I have been having a lot of discomfort while nursing over the past few days and have been researching various theories (and no, I’m not pregnant, before you start suggesting!).
But I discovered the cause today as I was brushing Littlepixie’s teeth, yup there are two new shiny white teeth starting to poke through on the bottom, her vampire teeth, what are they called again, oh yeah, canines.
So these canines are more than likely the cause of my discomfort. You see, it feels slightly like an acid wash on my nipples when LP nurses, it’s simply lovely! (Oops… should I have prefaced that sentence with a TMI warning? Ah well, too late!). But the good news is that as soon as each nursing session is over, the pain goes too, which is one reason I suspected it was her saliva not me causing the pain. Kellymom, knower of all thing breastfeeding, offers this wisdom:
Many times moms experience nipple irritation as a result of teething. The increased saliva and the enzymes in it can irritate nipples. This can be lessened by rinsing the baby’s saliva off the nipples after the feeding. With teething, both sides would typically be sore.
As with all teething episodes it is also important to get her to latch correctly, she is feeding more often for comfort now (obviously due to the teething), but at her age, correcting a latch isn’t too bad I just have to ask her to open wider and she does, handy!
And I noticed that the night after our wonderful “sleep through the night” adventure she was fussy when feeding, like my supply was low. This, combined with the nipple pain, made me wonder if I was ovulating. After all there was that fantastic full moon only a few days ago, and full moons have a way of making such cycles work. Or maybe my supply just dipped in response to the “sleep through the night” adventure. I guess I’ll know soon enough.
Anyway, I’m very lucky to have gotten such a lovely long break from my period, the average return among longterm breastfeeding women is 14 months, I know some women who got theirs much, much earlier and others who never saw one for years going straight from pregnany to breastfeeding to pregnancy to breastfeeding and so on. I’m at 25 months post partum, January will mark three years since my last period. It’s a good rest for my body. I’m delighted but I would like to see it return at some stage! I’m hoping it’ll come back as LP’s nursing sessions gradually decrease (which I assume will happen at some stage 
).
Betcha wish I’d just posted more posts about felt crafts today eh? 
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Ouch!! I of course don’t have any wise advice for you, but I hope you can get through this painful stage soon!
Like River, I don’t have any advise. I wasn’t able to nurse that long.
I must say that I am a wee bit envious though. About the lack of period, not the sore nipples, of course…
I hope it doesn’t last too much longer for you.
I have the same problem when Stinx is teething. When he was 11 months it was really bad. He kept rubbing his gums while nursing and a small sore developed. I went to LLL and someone told me to try nursing in different positions (we had gotten comfortable always nursing in the same position) and to check the latch. That did the trick. And Lanolin worked like a charm on the owie. Now that Stinx canines are in half way, I’ve noticed more discomfort. It seems that every time a new tooth comes, it takes a little while for nursing to get “comfy” again.. I guess its just a latch thing for us.
Oh dear,I hope you get over this very soon.
I have to tell you, when my littlest one gets new teeth, I almost always know because of the nipple pain. It DOES hurt! Mine was so bad, I had to get out the lanolin that I hadn’t used since she was a newborn to promote healing. I know that wouldn’t work for you as it is not vegan, but maybe some all-natural nipple cream might help you through this stage?
Going through the same thing here. Svara’s canines have been working their way out on and off (though not peeking through yet) and I notice my nipples get sore every time she has a particularly drooly few days. I’m jealous on your lack of period thus far. Even though Svara has been a super active nurser since birth, I’ve had regular periods since she was 6 weeks old! ugh! And my nipples can also get sore around ovulation or before my period, it varies from month to month though. So I guess it could be either or both reasons for you!
@Thanks ladies, it is getting a bit better now, I’m still wincing but not as much!
And I will admit that in the dark days at the start of breastfeeding I used a lot of lanolin as nothing else helped and vegan or not, it worked! My logic was that I was breastfeeding and that was that, so if I needed lanolin to get through the wonderful start then so be it, there’s my naughty non-vegan confession for tonight
Oooh, don’t wish it back too quickly!! That blissful time free of them will pass quickly enough…
My nine month old sinks his little teeth into the nipple and it hurts. I can’t help but to squeal with pain, and then he looks up at me, with the nipple still in his mouth, and laughs.
[...] it seems that the nursing pain I had may not have been entirely teething related, it may also have been ovulation-related! TMI it [...]