Anyone else have trouble with pinching?

[Spunky]

It's not exclusive to nursing, but since that's when I really don't have an option of getting her farther away if she needs milk. She pinches my chest and breasts and it HURTS. She'll just grab a whole handful of my skin (why are baby hands always moist making it easier to get a grip???) and squeeze. She's 9 months old now. I know the obvious putting her down and walking away, but it's all day. When she's in my ergo she puts her hands above her head and just keeps pinching skin. My husband has told me maybe I just need to wean as it makes nursing so frustrating, but neither of us are ready for that, and not for a reason as I'm in pain. Sigh. Suggestions?

 

[AmeliePoulain]

My elder daughter was like this! She is nearly 3 now (and weaned) but if she is sleepy or upset she still pinches me now (though she has learnt to do it gently)

It got to be a big problem when she was 18 months or so as I was covered in marks from it and I just hated how hard she did it.

We introduced a comfortor - a little rabbit blanket thing. It is called pinchy rabbit. I just put her hand on it everytime she went to pinch me. She takes Pinchy Rabbit to bed with her now and finds it very comforting.

 

[Spunky]

OMG it doesn't stop?!?! haha, oh well. LOVE the idea of a cuddle animal. I've tried to hold her hand, but that doesn't satisfy her. We have some really soft toys and blankets, I will start trying out some of those to see if that'll make her happy! Thank you for the idea! I too can't believe how hard they can pinch! They have tiny little hands!

 

[AmeliePoulain]

I am paranoid it is something I encourage in my kids as my youngest is starting to do it a little bit (she is 7.5 months and nursing) I rest a little soft blanket where she was beginning to pinch my boob a bit.

With my elder daughter it was hard to break the cycle, she was quite angry about not being able to pinch us! Now she can talk properly she says things like 'let me just pinch you a little bit...' She has preferred areas like inside of elbow and upper arm (nice and painful that one...)

My odd pinchy children!

 

[Spunky]

LOL, let me pinch you a little? That's cute and terrifying at the same time. My daughter's favorite place seems to be my upper chest (between neck and boobs) and my upper arm (I didn't realize how sensitive that arm fat and skin can be!). I can see why you would be paranoid. My son did not do this, so I didn't know what to do once it started. Now I am hoping it's not too late to break the cycle. Thank you so much for your suggestions. I hope it works for us!

 

[Athena]

Ouch, my LO does this too. I have a huge bruise on the back of my arm where she snuck her pinchy little hand up and squeezed! She'd also pinches the front of my boob when feeding but I can usually stop it by holding her hand at the front, the hand round under my arm when feeding is the sneaky one! Might try tucking a blanket under my arm. Glad mine isn't the only pincher!

 

[Spunky]

Athena - definitely not alone! If I'm wearing a shirt with long sleeves then she doesn't get my arms, but my chest is usually exposed with the low cut tops to make bf easier.

I tried the soft toy/blanket last night. She used it to beat me in the face with (which the toy didn't hurt but her hand/arm hitting me in the face wasn't fun) and then threw it on the ground. I will try to find a different toy to see if that helps.

 

[justkitty]

At that age I think they can learn that pinching means no boob. After a couple of times the pinching will stop.

 

[PitaKat]

My son pinches too. I usually take his hand and either move it or hold it. He will oftentimes get mad at me for that and claw/hit me, in which case I'll unlatch him and tell him he needs to be nice to Mama. He's not as bad with the pinching as he used to be, I used to get bruises from him.

 

[armywife11]

I had to use a toy as well. Started with a nursing necklace so she could mess with that when she got bigger gave her a teddy bear. It worked for us.

I did do the sit her down no more milkies but when she would do it at bed time I had no other way to get her down and the toy worked really well.

 

[Misscalais]

It's not exclusive to nursing, but since that's when I really don't have an option of getting her farther away if she needs milk. She pinches my chest and breasts and it HURTS. She'll just grab a whole handful of my skin (why are baby hands always moist making it easier to get a grip???) and squeeze. She's 9 months old now. I know the obvious putting her down and walking away, but it's all day. When she's in my ergo she puts her hands above her head and just keeps pinching skin. My husband has told me maybe I just need to wean as it makes nursing so frustrating, but neither of us are ready for that, and not for a reason as I'm in pain. Sigh. Suggestions?

Get a nursing necklace and see if she will play with that instead.

 

[Spunky]

A nursing necklace, thank you, I will look into that.

I know she's old enough to associate pinching with no milk, but she only does about 5-6 feeds during the day and 3 of those are trying to be calming (right before both naps and bedtime) so I don't want her getting worked up with setting her down and having her scream. The first one of the day is not usually a problem.

Thank you for all the responses!

 

[Athena]

Well I have a few more bruises from the last couple of days lol!! I might look into the necklace for when she's older.

On another note I noticed when my cat had kittens and they were feeding from her they were pawing away at her in a similar way that my baby pulls at me! Now I know how the poor cat felt having 6 of the little critters hanging off her nipples!!!

 

[Spunky]

LOL, I remember our dog had 8 puppies and they kneaded and scratched up her tummy too. No wonder she ran away from them when she could! I too have thought about how she paws at me.