biting and sippie cups

After a week of being bit almost everytime we nursed, I finally figured out what was causing the biting. I had looked up and read everything about breastfeeding and biting that I could think of. I was getting so frustrated and trying to think of when she did it, when she didn't, anything that changed when she started... After we got home from our vacation, she would clamp down and bite very hard and not let up. I'd put her down and tell her she couldn't bite me while having milk. She would cry so hard and sign milk. I knew she really wanted milk and she wasn't purposely hurting me. Then I made the connection! At home she usually uses a regular cup for water, but while we're in the car or something, she uses a sippie cup. We only had one sippie cup, so I bought a few cheap ones before we went on our vacation. They were inexpensive, BPA free, and seemed easy enough to get water out of. But she had to bite the spout to get the water out faster--the same way she was clamping down on me while nursing. We switched to straw cups and use regular cups whenever we're home, and she has not bit me since then. I am so thankful for our great breastfeeding relationship. Biting does not mean that a baby is wanting to quit breastfeeding; babies usually don't self-wean until they're at least a couple years old.

9/23/09 update:
I found some cups that work for us: http://nuby.com/products/cups/9609.aspx. They're the Nuby two-pack insulated flip straw with prints on them. There are other non-insulated nuby straw cups that do require biting the straw.

spoon!

Evalana just got some new spoons and bowls, and we love them! We do BLW, so Evalana's always fed herself (also highly recommend), and now she uses her own spoon and bowl to eat her yogurt and soup. The spoon is designed just right to help her get the food to her mouth, and the bowls have suction cups on the bottom.

Here are the spoons: http://thesoftlanding.com/play-and-learn-baby-spoon-.html

And here are the bowls: http://thesoftlanding.com/feedingbowlset.html