However, the next night (Sunday), she bit me while nursing. She's bitten before. In fact, with the teething, she'd been using a playful bite to signal that she was done. (Playful because she smiled and had a gleam in her eye afterwards. Not because it didn't hurt...) I didn't think much of it at the time. However, later I noticed that I was bleeding and discovered that I had about a quarter inch cut. So, the next time she went to nurse on that side, I was especially protective. She went to nurse as usual and because the cut was right where she puts her teeth (albeit under her tongue), the pressure felt like she was biting again. And, not wanting to make the injury any worse, I overreacted and pulled her off. This upset her and she's basically been on a nursing strike ever since.
She only nurses when she's half asleep in the wee hours of the morning. She now has 4 meals a day and I started offering milk in her sippy cup instead of water. She's been taking naps without nursing, but then I try to offer her a meal/snack when she wakes up. She'll drink about 4 oz. before bed from a bottle, but otherwise, she only drinks what she takes from a cup or nurses in less than 10 minutes at 3 am.
I've consulted a bunch of moms (including my own). I heard a couple stories of babies who "weaned" themselves at age 9-10 months. Other moms have mentioned nursing strikes caused by strong reactions to bites. A few chose to wean their babies at that time. I looked up nursing strikes and apparently the average is 2-4 days. We're on day 3. I saw one article about a 40 day nursing strike. I honestly don't have the guts to read that one. If this lasts over 2 weeks, I don't know if I can keep it up. So, we'll see. Wish us luck....
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| I LOVE meal times! |
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| Ellie in Toyland: She just got a bunch of toy hand-me-downs from cousins. All but one has a switch and makes noise and/or flashes lights. |
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