Scratching

[jessikate]

My five-month-old DD has a new "trick" - scratching the living daylights out of her ears and the back of her head & neck. She started doing this while nursing, and now will also do it when she wakes, especially if she's alone.

I've taken to either holding her hand or placing my hand behind her head (we usually nurse lying down), but I often feel like I'm just fighting her for control of that hand. I've tried giving her a toy to occupy that hand (something soft, so she doesn't hurt herself whacking it around), but she usually drops it or tries to put it in her mouth, displacing my breast.

Any ideas for why she might be doing this and how to stop it more effectively? Sympathy? Anything?

[williamsmommy2002]

I'll give you sympathy. I have no answers. Ds grabs and pinches while nursing. I have figured that he does it to self soothe so I just try redirection.

[vein]

I have to keep Gavin's nails cut every other day or else he will completely scratch himself up. As long as I keep them short it's not a problem.

I *hate* trimming his nails so short (always afraid I'll cut too much) but it's better than him being covered in scratches.

[village idiot]

My dd will sometimes pull her hair when nursing. Sometimes she hits me or herself or plays with her leg. Or pinches my breast. I try to keep her nails short also because the pinching hurts less if I do.

[late-night nan]

mysterious little scratches and nicks just started appearing on ds's face, so he is apparently starting to scratch when we're not looking.

we try to be on top of the nail clipping, but it's stressful. it's hard to cut his nails when he's asleep, and he often clenches his hands when we try to spread them out while he's awake. i never figured out how to use a baby nail clipper. we use a very good cuticle scissor. it works well, but i usually need to wait until they are a little longer. now i think i'm going to file his nails every other day or so.

[Quickening]

Buy some cotton baby mitts - they cant scratch themselves with it on! We put socks on dd's hands until we found some mitts... and after a while dd realised that if she did what she did, she'd scratch herself and hurt herself so she stopped!

[veganmamma]

My dd was always a scratcher, since birth. We just trim her nails every day, or sometiems I wait until i see a scratch if I forget. She would never tolerate mittens, so we tossed that idea pretty early. Keeping them short is the best way to go, IMO. DD uses her hands a lot for exploring and she can't do that if they're in mittens. Anyway, if you bite them while you're nursing, it's pretty easy to keep them up.
Good luck,
Lauren

[jessikate]

Thanks, everyone. I just got to trimming her nails today, so hopefully I can just let her go to town without worrying about scratches. It's hard to trim her nails when she's awake, and I'm often sleeping when she is, so it unfortunately waits too long some times. I like your idea of biting her nails while she's nursing, Lauren. It won't work for me, though... tried it and it just makes them more ragged and sharp.

Glad I'm not in this boat alone!

[veganmamma]

I do that too sometimes and have to keep at them. If you can figure out a way to nurse hands free, like side lying or in a sling, you can clip while you nurse. DD tolerates all kinds of grooming when she's nursing.
Lauren

[vein]

If I had to wait until Gavin was asleep to cut his nails, at this point, his nails would never be cut.

What we do is right after he's eaten and is full, he's halfway still in my lap. From that point, I have about 3 minutes (give or take a few minutes hehe) to start and finish. If I only get one hand done before he starts jerking, I just save the other hand until he's still again for a minute or two.

Not sure if Gavin is abnormal , but I end up having to trim his nails about ever 2 or 3 days to prevent him and I from looking like we were being scratched to death.

[jessikate]

Between my active nurser and unwieldy breasts, there is no hands-free nursing for me. I think she'd pop off if I tried clipping while she ate, anyhow. Super distractible little girl here.

I sometimes think I'd be willing to trade her alertness and activeness for a calm, quiet babe who's not distracted by everything. But gosh, she's so much fun! I think I can live with having to wait for her to sleep to clip those nails.

[veganmamma]

Active babies are fun.
L