I've been blessed with an extremely strong baby. He constantly is feeling and pinching EVERYTHING. (He has ripped hair off my husbands arm hes so strong). Here’s the problem. My son is always constantly pinching pulling away the skin around my areola while he feeds. He is not uncomfortable, he isn't gassy, he is just simply "going to town". Is this normal? Do other babies do this? I've always seen babies be still so this is new to me. I've made it this far breastfeeding, so I just don't want to give up when I'm so close to being done. But its to the point where it hurts and he has drawn blood. I do stop feeding immediately when there’s pain involved, but if I don't keep his hands occupied it happens. I just want to know if other moms experienced this.
My son did similar things. He would always hit something while he was eating, if he had a bottle he would hit the bottle, but if he was breastfeeding he would hit me. For a while there i was getting kicked in the head while he was breastfeeding too. He would just wiggle around into wierd positions. I would just take him off, re-cradle him, then start over. He doesn't do it anymore, he's 12 months now, but he probably did it for 4-5 months.
Hi S.!
My daughter does the same thing and she is 8 months old. she pinches me and it hurts, she also tries to put her feet under my chin when she nurses and when she sits up from nursing she grabs and twists my nipple and areola as if it were a handle there to assist her in sitting up...she then looks at me and laughs while I scream in pain!!! She thinks this is the funniest thing. I have to say she has never drawn blood, but your not alone. Sometime I swaddle her or just hold her hands while she nurses and that sometimes helps and others I'll give her a soft rattle to hold (I just end up getting hit with that, but it doesn't hurt). So you are not alone!
Hi S.!
Here's what I can offer based on my experience. My son did this for awhile, and still has his occasional moments. I always saw babies be still so I was confused as well. I was just dealing, and then once at a LLL meeting, one of the leaders mentioned that when your baby is moving around, smacking your breasts, pinching, etc, it knocks the fatty parts of your milk off the ducts. A lightbulb went off! He was doing it because it tasted SO good, he just couldn't help himself! HAHAHAHA! Obviously, I still wasn't ok with it, so we definitely had to learn together how to make it not happen. Instead of something for him to play with, I just slowly taught him how to be soft. Also, skin to skin nursing helps him chill out and calm down. He's 15 months now, and is nursing about 3 times a day.
My son is a pincher too. It's no fun. I would move his hands and tell him no at first. It helped a little after a while, but he still does it on occasion (he's 15 months now). I've found that having a blanket that he can play with really helps. I've let him play with my necklaces in the past, but that kinda backfires when I wear my nice diamond necklace that my husbank got me! Good luck!
S.,
My 10-month old is constantly moving. He doesn't pinch, but doesn't like to sit still for nursing. When I'm home I put on a hooded zip up sweatshirt for nursing and he tugs on the drawstrings while he nurses. While holding the string he sometimes whips his arms back and forth so quickly I have been hit in the eye a few times, but he mostly just plays with the strings. I also made a necklace from a yard of cord and a large plastic button. When I nurse him I'll put it on and he tugs on it or plays with the frayed cord ends.
I have made the mistake of giving him a lotion bottle to play with while nursing, but it isn't fun to get hit in the head with that!
So maybe giving him something to tug on will prevent him from his pinching.
GL,
J.
Yes, my son did that right about that age. I got a nursing necklace for him to play with. They are working on their dexterity and getting more interested in things, and the boob is just easy access. While I was waiting for my nursing necklace to arrive (these have a break away latch and big items for them to play with), I put some of those link toys together for a necklace. I don't really wear good necklaces yet, but I have been able to teach him to explore the necklace and not pull (too much).
He will still pinch once in awhile, and usually, I exclaim, "Ouch, that hurts Mommy." For awhile this was actually making him laugh, but I would move his hands away and distract him with tickling his feet.
Lately, my son (1) has even started unlatching, taking my boob in both hands and pinching or tweaking the nipple. He also will play with my bra or nipple of the side that he isn't eating from. I keep saying that I need to bring out the nursing necklace again, but he does it so rarely, and it is more his curiosity now, and he isn't hurting me.
Sounds like he needs to learn a bit of breast ettiquette. Every time he pinches take him off the breast and say mommy doesn't like that. Not mean or yelling but firm and then put him back on.
Don't make it so that he is done when this happens. Bear with me for a story: My girlfriend had a biter. He got teeth and would bite her so when he did she would stop feeding him. It go to the point that he would nurse but then everytime he was done nursing he would bite down. talk abotu sending signals to our children.
I am sure that you can get him to understand if you are consistent.
good luck
I usually feed my baby right when she wakes up and so she is still swaddled from feeding and that keeps her arms down. If her arms are free I have found it's helpful to give her my finger to hold or something like that.
