Kekei

My LO is 7 weeks old and I have had not problems breastfeeding her. She latched on straight away and has been putting on weight well. The problem began last night when my LO started chewing on my nipple when feeding. She starts off with a good latch then towards the end she starts to chew on me with her gums whilst still sucking. It is so painful!! My OH has been bottlefeeding her EBM and he said tonight that this is what she sometimes does on the bottle. Has bottlefeeding her confused her with latching on? What can I do to stop her with this habit?

Lu28

I'm not sure hon. Are you sure she's still feeding when she does this or is it just comfort sucking? I know Aisling does it when she's finished feeding properly and is just messing about.

OpheliaX

Sounds like comfort sucking Lucian does it but it is not usually painful. Is it happening on each breast? If it hurts break the latch and see if the baby will re latch. Comfort sucking between breasts helps reduce reflux so if it doesn't hurt I would leave it.

Do you use a pacifier too?

OpheliaX

Just found this about nipple confusion:

Kekei

Thank you opheliax for that info. I think that's what has happened. I didn't think it was comfort sucking as it has only happened at night after she has had a bottle at bedtime. I have told my husband that if he sees her doing it on the bottle to take the teat out of her mouth and get her to relatch on. I'm going to also watch out when she breastfeeding and ensure she has the correct latch. This is what I feared when we started giving her a bottle but I really want my oh to be involved in her feeding.

We don't give her a dummy. When we have tried she spits it out a screams.

OpheliaX

Glad to help.

My LO was Preemie so had to start on bottle so I am luck to be able to give him a bottle once in a while with no isue except that he makes a mess drinking it.