Claws of death

[genkimom]

My 10 month old likes to pinch and scratch. The scratching I can mostly bear as long as her nails are very short, but the pinching is upsetting everyone, but most especially me as I breastfeed and she particularly likes to pinch my breasts and arms with both hands as she feeds. She literally leaves red and blue marks all over my chest, arms and breast.

I bought a special necklace that's safe for her to play with while I breastfeed, but she refuses to be distracted and insists on pinching as hard as she can as much as she can.

We have tried saying NO and STOP but it doesn't stop her. I tried pulling away from her, but then she just pinches the nipple, and believe me that is worse.

My helper is also getting pinched and scratched, as are the other members of our family.

Any other ideas out there?

 

[thanka2]

Oh, that sounds really awful!

All I can say is that sometimes saying "No" is not enough. My daughter went through a phase where she thought it was really great to pinch the undersides of my arm while breastfeeding. I dealt with it by immediately removing her from the breast, looking at her sternly and saying, "NO. You do NOT pinch your mama." If she continued to try to do the same thing I would physically restrain her hand and if need be and sit her down somewhere until the message sank in. I think in my daughter's case she really liked to see the reaction on our faces and that's why she did it. Because she tends to have a "stone cold stare" I know when I've gotten through to her if she starts to cry. Nowadays I will tell her to "Say sorry" and give a kiss or a hug to whomever she has harmed (usually it's her older brother). Don't know if that helps but I would say if she's leaving marks, the best thing is to physically place her away from you until she can learn not to do that. Also, with my daughter it has been really important to reinforce the concept of "gentle" by directing her hand in a gentle stroking motion after she's been corrected for being to aggressive with her little hands.