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Does anyone have any ideas for how to get DS to stop tweaking?

post #1 of 6
Thread Starter 
so my boobs have become DS's lovey. Actually, my nipples. If I'm holding him, he insists on having his arms down my shirt holding my nipple. Now, if we're at home just cuddling and he's just got his hand there, I don't care. However, out in public...well I'd rather he not have his arm down my shirt. And now he is getting to the point where he insists on tweaking my nipples. He twists and pinches them and it hurts. I continually take his arm out of my shirt and say "that hurts. I don't like it." He just smiles and says "like it?" And then I say "no." So he smiles and reinserts his arm. It's like a broken record. ALL. THE. TIME. A few times in the past couple of days, I have completely lost it and yelled at him. He just giggles and tries to reinsert his arm. It is so frustrating. And it HURTS. Frequently he'll get my nipple between his finger nails and sort of scritch away. I'm on the verge of putting bandages over my nipples to keep him OFF. I don't mind nursing (although we have recently nightweaned, so not at night), but this tweaking business is driving me bonkers. It makes my skin crawl. And I'm quite frankly sick of it.

Do any of you have any tips for how to get DS's arm out of my shirt?
post #2 of 6
I don't have any great advice for you, but maybe try posting in the bf beyond infancy forum or clw forum? Might get more of a response over there
My 15mo ds has just started insisting that he touch the my other breast while bf..and if he wants to nurse, he has started putting his hand down my shirt while signing 'milk'. I don't mind so much, he doesn't hurt or pinch..just pats or holds. However, I would also love ideas on gently redirecting him so it doesn't progress! DD2 did this when she was around 2yo, but I could ask her to stop or to be gentle if it was bothering me...and she would for the most part.
post #3 of 6
Mine just turned 3 and still does this. It drives me batty. I don't mind so much at night when he's going to sleep. However, I would really like for him to stop doing it during the day. Redirection doesn't always work. Often he'll laugh and just keep doing it.
post #4 of 6
Nursing manners (which for me includes all interactions with my boobs) have been a constant, low-level issue for us. I find that it's really best for me and my 2 year old nursling when I'm 100% consistent and firm about what is and isn't permitted. It cannot be "some of the time", that just makes everyone confused and frustrated, and encourages her to keep testing the boundary.

1) No rummaging in my shirt without me. Ever. 90% of the time I will nurse when she asks, but mommy does all of the rearranging of the shirt and bra, and then I invite my toddler to latch. This was big for me from the start, because I found myself resenting it at 8 months old when she would crawl over and push right up into my shirt without even connecting to me. A mommy who feels resentful is just as much of a problem as an angry baby, so we found the boundary that helped me to feel respected, too. I needed some eye contact. She used sign and verbal cues to express hunger, and I always validated her asking, even when my response was "I understand that you want to nurse, we can nurse when I'm done cooking, would you like a cup of water now?" If this sounds good for you, it might help to wear sweaters or high-necked fitted shirts for a few days to help you draw the line. This has not been much of an issue for us, I think because it was easy to be consistent about from a very young age.

2) For biting, scratching, twiddling the other nipple, kicking, all of those... I tried grabbing and redirecting the offending limb but eventually learned that the redirection needs to be processed through my toddler's brain and the only way to get her attention is to unlatch her. The first many times I unlatched her in response to mole-picking, or digging her toes into my belly-button, I got an outraged roar but quickly she learned that all I need is for her to look at me, hear me say "no mole-picking!" and I will immediately offer to relatch. Now the redirection is accomplished in 3 seconds, with little fuss, no wrestling, and good effect.

Realistically, she's an active and curious toddler and taking the time out to be attached to the breast is hard for her. So I try to accommodate this by having a small toy or a "nursing necklace" when I can (this is miraculously helpful) and by allowing her certain kinds of fidgeting, basically whatever she wants that doesn't hurt me or involve picking moles or nipples.

For us, the hardest hurdle has been the mole-picking, because sometimes she just wants to touch my cleavage mole and when she does it that way, I don't notice it. With my nipple, it's easy for me to be black and white - no touching! I think it's harder for her to understand the grey line between touching my moles gently and twiddling them in a way that makes me fear I'll bleed. I, too have thought of putting bandaids over them or getting a dermatologist to cut them off to simply put an end to the fiddling.

I hope my experiences can help you. For me, the issues that I've been able to be most consistent about are the ones my nursling respects most easily. When I need to institute a new boundary (such as no pushing on my now-pregnant belly) there is a week or two of outrage, but I try to talk it out patiently and immediately offer a "good" alternative such as a nursing necklace or something else to mess with.
post #5 of 6
I dealt with this with mine, too. What I did was to say no and move the offending limb once. The second time, I'd unlatch the child, put him/her down, and walk away. Calmly, with no yelling, just say I don't like that, so I'm going away. Then leave him to his own devices for a minute or two.

In the meantime, though, wearing clothing that offers good coverage, and offering distractions like a necklace to play with, are great ideas.
post #6 of 6
Thread Starter 
Thank You, ladies! I have been trying to really set consistent limits with this. He does okay during the day, it's when he's falling asleep that it's really becoming an issue. But, then we started the night weaning process about a month ago (including not nursing to sleep)... and so instead of nursing to sleep, he wants to twiddle to sleep. I didn't do too much to try to stop the twiddling to sleep at first because my goal was to help him learn to fall asleep without nursing (and back rubs weren't cutting it). But now that he's doing well with the nightweaning (he doesn't nurse to sleep and goes until 5 AM without nursing) I have started putting more limits on the twiddling to sleep. And that's when he really puts up a fight if I don't let him.
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