6/25/98

2:36 PM

"He'llcatch on pretty fast that pulling on the nipple means no milk.
It's
OK for mum to yelp in pain too:  sometimes this startles little ones
enough that they don't try it again."

I would be a little cautious about warning a mother about yelping in
pain; I unfortunately took this advice with my oldest daughter at 9
months (doing a yelp and then saying "no" very firmly); my happy
nursing relationship was completely over within about 3 days after
doing this one time.

I would be nervous about a mother scaring the baby off for good,
since at that age they don't seem to have a good grasp that what
they're doing hurts you (like for the past 7 months or so when my 9
month old has been pulling my hair or yanking at my earrings
ferociously at least once a day until I or another kind family member
pries her loose - although she's a sweet, happy baby, for some reason
she enjoys physically torturing me with no regard) and the baby might
therefore think that you just don't want them nursing at all.