Nighttime groping

[rosiemummy]

Hi there,

I'm new to the forum and hoping you all can share your advice. My 19month-old DD seems to spend all night pinching my nipples, scratching my breasts, poking me and generally making feel under attack. She really hurts! We have co-slept happily since birth, and I still give her a breastfeed (or twenty) in the night, and try to soothe her in other ways, too.

I have told her using various different words that she is hurting me and asking her to stop. I have shown her how to touch me nicely. I eventually face away from her at night, even though she'll cry for a minute or two. She's pretty pinchy during the day, too, but she'll stop when I ask her. I don't feel that she's ready to move out of our bed yet, or give up breastfeeding, but it's really starting to affect my daytime parenting as I'm not sleeping well and getting very run down and crabby. She's a sweet thing and deserves a happy Mom. Any suggestions gratefully received!

[PaxMamma]

how about wearing a couple layers to sleep in, like a nice thick sweatshirt? that way, she can still touch you, but won't hurt skin?

[apmommy]

I had the same issue with my first two. I wore sweatshirts to bed and told them to be gentle with mommy. Sometimes I would have to roll over, which caused my son to cry, but just for a few minutes. The good news is that for EACH it was a stage, and I think it only lasted a few months. I know--that's LONG when you haven't slept, but it helped me keep sane and continue co-sleeping, which I always loved.

OH! And sometimes I would suggest we cuddle. I'd grab them in a bear hug and squeeze them so we could touch. They each seemed to like that a lot.

[loveleighbird]

Our son is a "twiddler" day and night when nursing (he twiddles the opposite breast), and he likes to "knead" my belly too. Sometimes he does this at night too (makes me feel like a mama cat sometimes- LOL), which can be distracting to me while sleeping (I think he does it out of habit because he's still asleep). All I can suggest is to teach the Baby Signs for "pain." We say "owie" instead of pain and talk about that it hurts when he does that to my breast/nipple. He stops and usually gives me a kiss in the "owie" area as if to say he's sorry. :) Has anyone experienced the fascination that a child can have while nursing with the mother's belly button? Now to me... that can be sort of painful! LOL! Our son (who is almost 21 months) likes to dig his thumb or other fingers in my belly button while nursing. I have not quite figured this one out yet, but one of my friends said that her daughter did the same thing. Anyone experienced this or know of anyone who has some "theory" on this? Just curious.