I usually share nice little happy memories for my The Ordinary Moments posts. I’ve written about running in the park, sort-of date nights, and life with three children, but today I’m writing about a part of parenting I’m sure I’d rather forget: bites and bruises. I am covered in them.
He particularly enjoys chomping down on my left hand at the moment – and in a way, that’s a bit of a relief as I’d much rather he bite my hand than some other favourites he’s had in the past (thank god, we’re past the nipple biting phase – mostly). The worst bit is, how much he obviously delights in it. He thinks it’s the best game, ever. He laughs. He giggles. He bites me through a smiling face and with a nasty twinkle in his eye. What a little devil.
There are almost 2 million results on Google when you search for ‘How to stop a Toddler biting‘, so there’s a plethora of information out there to help. It seems a lot of websites say it’s a sign your child is stressed, frightened or hasn’t had enough closeness with you… my answer to that would be – how much closeness does this vampire need? He sleeps in with me for at least three hours a night, always has a hand down my bra when he’s having cuddles and is still completely milk obsessed. How am I ever going to wean him off if he just bites me whenever I try and point him in the direction of his juice bottle rather than the boob? Nightmare.
At least he’s not really biting other children at the moment… we went through a stage where he’d get a bit snappy when playing but he hasn’t attempted to bite anyone else except LPD and I for a while so I suppose we should be grateful.
This is one phase I’ll be very glad to see the back of. Unlike some of the other stages of parenting (like cluster-feeding, only napping whilst being cuddled, night-wake-ups), I really can’t see ANY benefits or silver linings in this one. It’s just painful and annoying. I don’t think I’ll ever look back in years to come and think Oh, remember when he used to bite us so hard it would leave bruises for days? That was so cute. I miss those days.
No. This is one ordinary moment I won’t remember fondly.
Laura | Little Ladies Big World
Oh no that looks and sounds awful for you, I hope it is one of these phases that goes pretty soon for you x #TheOrdinaryMoments
Kate
Oh dear I hope this phase passes quickly for you! #TheOrdinaryMoments
Donna
Oh gosh I hope this passes quickly! We didn’t have a biting phase, only when they used to clamp down whilst feeding and I’d bark ‘no’ at them, upset them, and eventually they stopped doing it! That bite looks nasty! x
Jenni
I just had one of those moments where you read a beautiful blog and start out thinking “look at this perfect family of perfect people… oh, thank goodness, they’re just like us!” A few weeks ago I would be sitting on the sofa and suddenly baby Sling Thing no2 would be biting my toes! Thankfully now he has moved on to impressions of a cat being tortured as his number 1 party trick! It’s a phase- the parenting mantra! Now the curse of the sleepy teething toddler latch slipping and them biting down to keep hold, that I still need to find an answer to!