Careful, She Bites

The first time it happened, I actually laughed. I was contentedly nursing Lily, my 10-month-old baby, when a sharp bite on my nipple jolted me out of my reverie. I gasped and looked down at my daughter in shock. She seemed surprised at first, then quite pleased with herself as she giggled out loud.

Her delight was so infectious that I started laughing too, even as my nipple throbbed. But when I looked back on that day two years later, I wasn't laughing anymore. Instead I was wondering whether my reaction might have been the very thing that started it all. I was even appalled to find myself wishing I had taken my baby's plump little arm in my mouth and firmly bitten her right back.

Back then, though, I had no inkling of the journey we were about to undertake. Over the next few months, Lily's nipple chomping continued. I tried to stop it by following the conventional advice: I'd sternly say, "No biting!" and abruptly end the feeding. The only problem was that Lily thought my reprimands and yelps of pain were hilarious, and she didn't seem to mind having her meal curtailed in exchange for getting to watch all of Mommy's silly antics. At that point, weaning became an act of self-defense.