Fiesty little almost one-year-old...

[@llli*aynsleykcollier]

Hello mamas out there! I'm looking for some advice. I am currently nursing my 11.5 month old and it's be a wonderful experience. We are spending the summer with my family in Ohio, and as a result she has become a little more attached than normal (if that's even possible). With that, she has wanted go nurse more often, about every 2 hours or even less. That's not a huge issue, but recently she has gotten really rough while feeding. For example, she will be pleasantly drinking away and then all of a sudden she is digging her fingernails into my breasts while biting down! Or she will quickly take her mouth off and squeeze my nipple as hard as she can! I can't explain how painful it is! I have no idea why she is doing this, as my milk production is still great. Any help on better understanding these actions and solving them??

[@llli*phi]

Welcome to the forum! As much as I love toddler nursing, it is not without it's challenges!

The increase in nursing frequency and biting could be a sign of molars on the way. My son started nursing like a newborn again right before his molars started working their way down. You can try giving her something cold to chew on before nursing to see if it helps with the biting. I often need to switch up nursing positions during teething too. My son does better when he is a little more vertical.

I think that the pinching and squeezing and scratching are just something a lot of older babies do sometimes. I can't stand it myself, and I do my best to distract my son. He has a little bean bag dinosaur that fits perfectly in his little hands that he will play with while he nurses. Sometimes he will roll little cars across my chest. He still likes some of the nursing necklaces that I used when he was younger (although he has become far more discriminating in his taste in jewelry in his old age and only certain ones will do now ). It took a lot of trial and error to find things that are more fun than pinching and slapping mama, but so far the things that work do work quite well.

[@llli*mommal]

with Phi. I'd treat the pinching/scratching with distraction, removing baby's hands, and gently but firmly saying "No, hurts mama!". If it continues, I'd treat it like biting: the moment it occurs, unlatch the baby, put her down and walk away for a minute or two. Eventually, baby should get the picture that hurting mama = end of the feeding, and she should therefore stop doing it.