Battered boobs

[ChaiTea]

When my (almost) 11 month old nurses now, he destroys my boobs. He grabs them with his hand and squeezes, digging in with his nails. He also pinches like crazy. I have red marks all over my chest. If I try to pull his hands away or hold them away, he gets mad and stops nursing. He always nurses before naps and bed, so me having to pull his hands away or tell him no don't help the getting him to sleep part.

Yes I keep his nails short. I know that babies will knead the boob sometimes to help the flow, but this is well beyond kneading. My boobs are also always constantly deflated looking and feeling. I know that's not always a sign of how much milk is in there, but it's ridiculous how flat (and gross) they always are now! This didn't start happening until a couple months ago. Before that, they always plumped up some and never went completely deflated. I drink as much water as I can handle during the day and I drink mother's milk tea sometimes.

Is this all pointing to weaning soon?

 

[irish_cob]

No not necessarily. Your supply is established now so you won't get the engorged or full feeding. My dd flails and hits and pinches sometimes and I too am sometimes covered in bruises and scratches. I think it's when she's teething that she's the worst. There's no reason to stop though as she settles eventually and it's the only thing that will settle her eventually. I'm taking it as a normal part of the process hah!

 

[ChaiTea]

Hmmm this guy is teething, and it's been worse lately. If it's normal then I'm cool with it. He just woke up at 4:30am which almost never happens anymore. He didn't eat much before I nursed him to sleep, so I thought I'd give him a pouch now, thinking he was probably very hungry. Nope, he shoved it away and just wanted a boob. I don't want the nursing to end anytime soon!

 

[JenX]

Sounds normal to me. Definitely deflated over here unless it has been a really long time between feeds. I get the boob abuse, too- punching, kneading, pinching.

 

[Night Flower]

Why not put infant gloves on him?

 

[JenX]

There's no way an 11 month old would keep scratch mitts on for more than a nanosecond- and they would be way too small.

 

[ChaiTea]

Same here with the mittens. Too small and he'd be so mad!