Grabbing and pinching giving me the rage

[Prusik]

4 month old is ebf. I also have a 16 month old. Little one grabs and pinches my boob constantly during feeding. I get that the idea is that he's stimulating the breast but he grabs and twists, pulls, pinches, scratches. I'm so touched out that it massively upsets me and makes me feel annoyed.

I don't want to feel annoyed at the kid but this one thing I'm just not coping with. Tried expressing but hardly got anything and don't particularly fancy the faff with two so young. Also don't think I fancy formula as there's a strong potential he has cows milk allergy.

Just expressing my frustration I guess

I know exactly how you feel! My dd has been doing this for 2 months now. I can't believe how sharp her nails are even when they've been cut. Hang in there! I find holding one of her hands whilst feeding helps a bit.

Thanks. I just did that while I've fed now but it's frustrating not being able to entertain myself keep myself awake with my phone. I've been up since 4am and he's just dropped off. Eldest will be up in 20 minutes or so

I had phases of that with both of my babies. It definitely takes the shine off BFing! I bought a silicone teething necklace with my DD and that helped her with something to do with her hands whilst feeding. Keeping their nails short (and filed if you can be arsed) is definitely another strategy to try. Hang in there, hopefully the phase will pass soon.

I would give my babies something to hold onto like a little toy - give that a try

My friend lent me a necklace thing, I didn't think about that. I'll try it, thanks. Probably get strangled by the 16 month old

I could cry. 16 month old woke just as I finished posting. So bloody tired

The necklace was good for one of mine. Also, if bfing is fully established, have you just tried taking him off every time he does it? Dd2 started trying to chew around this age, but stopped pretty fast once she realised it meant a milk pause

Could you put mitts on him? He’d still be able to stimulate milk flow but no scratchy pinching.

Mine leaves boob alone but is obbsessed with clawing and pinching my face . Driving me batty, he keeps pulling my bottom lip and nothing distracts him.

I think 4 months is a tricky time. Growth spurts, developmental changes, trying to figure out how hands and feet work. Building up muscles, needing more and more calories. It just turns that lovely squishy newborn into an active baby, boob monster. It is hard work! Definitely try the necklace idea. I had 2, 13 months apart so I know what you’re going through, and it’s SO DRAINING. You got my sympathies!!

My sympathies -- it's tough at 4 months with so much development happening at once!

Anytime my son would start to pinch or scratch, I would say 'gentle' or 'gently' and gently stroke his arm/hand/back a few times to reinforce the idea. He now smiles and strokes my breast in the same gentle way when I say it! But keeping his fingernails trimmed definitely helps, too.

And when he has bit me (thankfully a very rare occurrence, especially since his teeth started coming in!), I would press a finger on his cheek and calmly but firmly say 'No' and if he did it again, I'd say it again and take him off for a minute. Then if he did it again after resuming feeding, I stopped feeding him for ~5 minutes, and as a pp said, he quickly got the idea.

See if you can get one of those little comforter toys. Put it on your chest or in the baby's hand each time you feed (shielding your skin). Then give it to the baby each time he goes for a nap to strengthen the comfort association. It takes time but it does work, I've just started doing this with my 9wo and did it with my other two also. Breastfeeding is hard enough without being clawed at! Hope things improve for you soon and you get some rest, super hard when they're tag teaming at keeping you awake