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Saturday, September 1, 2012

Nursing and weaning and TEETH, oh my!

E is nine months old now, and in just the past few weeks has gone from two teeth to SIX!  She now has two on the top and four on the bottom, and all are equally razor-sharp.  She is also still nursing 4-6 times per day and 1-3 times per night.  (You can probably guess where this is going...) 

In the past two days, I have been bitten at least 5 times.  OUCH.  Every time she does it I immediately remove her and say "NO BITING!" and set her on the floor across the room from me.  Once or twice she cried, the other times she didn't seem to care.  This is the advice I have been told and seen given repeatedly online to stop the biting, but I can't help but wonder if it is really effective if she doesn't get upset?  I would love to hear any other ideas if anyone has them!

I also have noticed that when she is nursing, I can definitely feel her top teeth digging into my skin.  A few times I have even seen clear teeth marks where they were after she finished eating.  It doesn't hurt as much as the biting, but is still pretty uncomfortable.  I also really worry about this getting worse as her teeth continue to grow in, but am not sure there is much I can do other than tough it out.  

My goal for E has always been to nurse for at least a year, but follow her lead when it comes time to wean.  (However, the recent teeth situation is definitely giving me pause...) I guess you could say we've been doing "modified baby-led weaning" since she started trying solids, and it seems to be working for us.  In just the past week or so, E has really started refusing to nurse, instead wanting to eat more and more "real" food.  She will still take milk from a bottle or sippy cup, but will flat out refuse it straight from the tap.  I try to make sure she takes milk first and solids second, so that I can be sure she is still getting enough nutrition, but she just doesn't seem interested in the milk.  She will not eat anything pureed -- she will only eat small pieces of actual food -- so I can't even sneak any milk in that way.  I'm not sure if this is just a phase, or if my baby really is weaning herself already. 

*tear*  They grow up so fast!

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