Teething

Everything has been so busy with work and the new baby! But for the last month she has been teething! Two bottom teeth are trying to cut through and there was a couple times she was gnawing on my nipple and before I realized it they became a litte tender! Nothing compared to the blisters or nipple pain I had in the first month of BFing.

Well, tips from the lactation counselor were to maybe massage her gums and put a cool teething ring to them before she nurses. That way it might kind of numb them and she wont feel the need to gnaw on me!

The pediatrician recommended the usual: tylenol, teething rings, massage the gums with a clean finger or cold washcloth. She also brought up using one of those feeder pouches (typically used to put foods in for babies learning to eat) and to put ice in it! Well, my daughter really likes that! I found it at Wal-Mart

I also knew that Hyland's teething tablets worked well with my friend's son, and I saw they had the Hyland's teething gel too. This works much better for my 3 month old than the tablets when she's used to nothing but breastmilk! Although, I think the tablets dissolve instantly.

So...it's been a month of her teething, and the last two days have been the worst for her. The teeth are much more visibe now like they are just about to cut through. For her sake, I hope they do, she is miserable at times. She will put her hands in her mouth and cry.

Thrush?

So at 6 weeks of breastfeeding things were going great! Then I started getting a lot of nipple pain. I know that reddened painful nipples can be a sign of thrush, and so can a fussy baby so that is probably what I had. The baby had no white spots in her mouth which is a sign of thrush in the infant, but that didn't mean that I couldn't still have it. The physician's assistant at the hospital gave me Diflucan and said that it most likely was thrush. In two days I was seeing my OB/GYN for my 6 week postpartum check so I could follow up with her then. My OB decided to give me a weeks worth of diflucan and some nipple cream. After a few days of this they felt a lot better.



Then they started to hurt again just as bad so I went in and met with the hospital's lactation consultant. She watched my baby eat and said her latch was great while she's actively eating, but then she starts to slip off when she is 'comfort nursing'. The pain and reddened nipples is a sign of bad latch so that's why she wanted to watch my daughter eat.



So because when she comfort nurses she is 'clamping down' on my nipple and not taking in as much of the aereola I am supposed to stop comfort nursing at every feeding. Once and a while is okay she said, but to make sure it isn't hurting.



So, if I did have thrush, it should be gone now with the Diflucan. Tomorrow I am going to take a little 'break from nursing' and pump for most of the feedings to let my nipples rest. That's okay though, I'm sure her daddy will be thrilled to feed her expressed breast milk!