DD face/ ear scratching + pinching me when feeding- advice please.

[milki]

My 10 month old DD has a habit of scratching her face and ears, particularly when she's tired. Want some reassurance that it probably is just a habit please, or any suggestions as to what might be causing her to do this. She can get in a real pickle if she's really tired and sort of wakes herself up at night by doing it. She's not a great sleeper, wakes at least twice a night and I have resorted to putting her for daytime naps in her buggy as I can tuck her arms in the cosi-toes thing to stop her doing it so she can sleep.
Also, about 2 months ago she started pinching me on the chest/boob when she bf. Can be quite painful but if I try to hold her arms or hands she gets annoyed and fights it - any ideas how to stop her? I have bruises!

Thanks.

Sounds just like my dd. Lots of babies rub their eyes and ears when they are tired, its a really useful signal that they need to sleep. Try to keep her nails short and use a nail file to round off the edges (easier said than done with my dd ).
I had the pinching aswell, she has now stopped doing it, so I guess its just a phase. It only lasted about six weeks. I found that not reacting at all was the best way to deal with it, as if I tried to remove her it interupted her feeding to much. But the bruises caused much amusement to my husband!
Some people find that wearing a necklace which baby can fiddle with will distract them; you can google for these. Also this sort of thing might help with the scratching

My DDs would do this sort of thing when youger and I would pull the sleeve of their sleepsuits over their hands so that the hand was inside the sleepsuit-thwarted! and sorted! Dont know how it would go down with a 10 month old though or during the night.

milki, try a breastfeeding necklace. give her hands something to do