Ever notice all the funny little things that babies do while nursing?
Some of them are cute: curling mommy’s hair, playing with their tiny fingers, holding your finger with their little hand.
Some of them are not so cute: biting your nipple, scratching mommy’s chest, and, as my two year old has just recently started doing, humming while nursing.
Now I have a lot of patience, but when I feel that vibration on my nipple from her humming, I can hardly stand it. I’ve had to tell her that if she doesn’t stop then there will be no more“nana” for her. Usually this threat works and her humming will stop (temporarily at least).
Humming away at the breast
I’m not sure where all these little habits come from…. do they get bored at the breast? I think this is probably true in the case of a 4-10 month old baby who is sometimes too distracted to nurse. When my girls were at this stage I found wearing a nursing necklace or scarf helpful for
pulling their attention back to the task at hand. They seemed to like having something to play with in their hands. I also found this useful when both of mine went through a period of scratching my chest and neck with their sharp little razor blades (i.e. fingernails).
I think sometimes these habits come from the knowledge that babies have the ability to increase milk flow. A baby who likes to twist his mother’s other nipple while nursing has likely learned that he can get the flow of milk going faster when he does so. I personally have always hated the sensation of this baby technique. My youngest has developed an alternative technique of pushing very hard on a particular area of my breast to increase milk flow. I don’t know how she does it, but every time she does, I can feel the flow of milk increasing. It doesn’t hurt, just feels kind of like a stronger let down.
In my experience these little nursing habits change as baby gets older. I’ve enjoyed the cute little habits that my babies have had and strongly discouraged the annoying ones, like the current one of humming. After all, I think breastfeeding should be a mutually enjoyable activity.
What cute or annoying habits does your little one have while nursing?
Felicie is a teacher turned work at home mama to two busy little angels, aged 22 months and 4 and a half years. She is a proud member of La Leche League Canada and has helped to organize three World B[..]
My daughter does breast compressions to increase flow (she started doing this at about 3 months) and it’s not always pleasant as it sometimes pinches! Her other habits are grabbing my shirt and lifting it (not so bad at home, but when I’m out in public I’d rather she didn’t completely strip me!) and patting or rubbing my hand, arm or any other skin that’s available! Lately she also takes breaks to look around and then moushes her face back into my breast with a very satisfied grin before latching on properly!
Great blog! My son is really active and doesn’t like to sit still – he kicks his feet a lot while nursing which is either funny or annoying, depending on my mood.
He is especially funny when he nurses while I’m lying down. He likes to stay latched on while walking his feet around, and it seems like he is trying to do the ‘downward facing dog’ yoga move.
PS – thanks so much for your ‘sleep deprivation’ post from last month. It is very reassuring
Hey Cynthia! Yeah, I hate the lifting of the shirt in public too… and those breast compressions sound awful. Love the satisfied grin though, I’ve seen that too! (-:
Erin- I’m glad I’m not the only one with a baby who has “kicky” legs while nursing! You’re right, sometimes it’s funny, but other times not so much- like when you’re sitting next to someone who doesn’t want to be kicked! Glad you liked the sleep deprivation blog, it’s so hard to try to function normally when you’re so tired. I’m glad others can relate!
We used to call Jesse “the dentist” because he would do a full on inspection while nursing. Quinn is our biter. And not only does he bite, but he pulls his head back as he does so to gauge my reaction. He’s a cheeky monkey, for sure! I’ve also gone through the tweaking, the gymnurstics, the razor blades, the humming, the switching sides over and over and over again….at least we can look back and laugh at it all, right?