Love bites

Remember when I said I was going to stop biting Jacob? It was in a previous post when I described how he dangerously stuck his fingers in the back of my mouth when I was pretend-biting his hand and his little finger got sandwiched between my molars (I guess I need to work on those "pretend" skills).

Well, it turns out, Jacob loves biting as well. And don't underestimate those 6 teeth, people. They are SHARP, and they HURT. Oh, and there is no biting discrimination. It's your face, shoulder, knee, stomach (yes, stomach)...not to mention the coffee table, crib, and leather wallets (must be like raw hide to a baby?) Not thinking much of it because all babies gnaw on various things, I dismissed it as a simple baby behavior.

Then, I saw an article in one of my baby newsletters entitled "My baby bites. What's going on?" The "expert" opinion read like so:

"If teething isn't the cause and your child doesn't seem particularly anxious about something (which can sometimes be behind biting), try to nip this behavior in the bud now, before it becomes a habit. Be sure that no one laughs when your child bites and that no one, including older siblings, treats biting as a game or ever gives your baby a 'love bite.'"

What? No more love bites?? But how?? How in the world do you do this? How do you not bite your baby? I just don't understand :( I am distraught. I want to inhale him -- how can I not give him love bites? Unfortunately, this is a behavior that I cannot control. I need to go to a baby biting anonymous class.

All this time, I've just been teaching him to bite more. Shame on me.

But really, don't you want to bite him too?