Marlee is really good at knowing when she's doing something she's not supposed to. If I lower my voice and calmly say, "Uh-uh," she immediately stops, and I show her something appropriate. Or if something is in the mouth that shouldn't be (a daily occurrence at least), I say, "That's not for eating...Bring it to Mommy," and she puts it in my palm. She's even started to look at me when she's about to do something off-limits, just waiting for the ol' "Uh-uh." Today we were playing in the living room, and she crawled into the kitchen and got really quiet. I went after her and found her eating a price tag (no idea how that got there). She looked up at me, hung her head (busted!), took the tag out of her mouth, crawled over and gave it to me. I never said a word.
That's about the extent of "discipline" in our house. Until last night. Marlee took a late nap, so she was up later than usual, and we were having some family time--snuggling in bed watching a movie. She started getting fussy and scooted over to nurse. I tried to soothe her with her pacifier, but she wasn't having it and was frustrated with me for continuing to put it in her mouth. When I pulled her close to nurse her...She Bit Me! Now, I know better than to overreact. Babies think it's funny and that they've done something great. But I couldn't help it. Brand new razor sharp teeth to the nipple = pretty damn painful. So I shouted, "Ouch!!!" She cracked up. I looked right in her eyes and said, "No ma'am, Marlee June. That is NOT silly! You hurt Mommy! Not Okay!" She was silent. Then her eyes filled. Her lip came out. Her chin quivered. And she cried a cry I've never heard before. It was like a knife through my heart. I scooped her up and snuggled her, and we both calmed down together.
I doubt she'll ever bite me again, but Oh.My.God. I don't know that I can handle 18 years of that face.
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3 comments:
oh I know that face! Sammy is good at that one!
Liam was funny during this phase. When he went silent and we walked into the room to see what he was up to, he would turn around and POINT AT US (because he knew we were going to point at him and say "no"). He also had a short biting phase, and yes, he too laughed the first time he caught me by surprise and I yelped. My mom reminded me that he was likely teething, and all he knew was that it felt good to him to bite down (without realizing that it hurt me), so I kept my patience. After the first time, I didn't yelp... I simply said "No biting" and immediately ended the nursing session. (I think Mel taught me this.) It worked. He only bit me a couple more times (all within the same week) before he figured out that cause and effect, and he never bit me again. Good luck! -K
I just had a conversation about biting and nursing with my neighbor, who is having a ridiculously bad time nursing. Apparently her 3 month old is biting her. (ok, biting isn't what she said, "Chewing" was actually what she said) She was floored that J only bit me like 3 times the entire time she nursed. But yeah, we stopped the nursing session immediately upon a bite, and restart it 10 minutes later.
Anyone with ideas on telling a 3 month old to stop biting/chewing?
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