Nipple Wars

It's not what you might think, from a formerly breast-feeding mother. No, we weaned quite successfully and in fact I'm the one that had to be weaned. Anneliese was quite ready to move on to using a bottle and having formula full time without a battle.

You might also think that it might have to do with having 3 daughters and that Nipple Wars is just a creative term that I use to describe the struggles of having all daughters. Nope, you'd be wrong about that too.

Because of the sheer amount of feminine nipples in our house, we lovingly call them Nip-Nips, sort of like the sweet candy but with an extra "nip" attached. Well, Grace has decided that Nip-Nips are fascinating. She realized that if she squeezes them, pinches them, or allows them to get cold, they'll get pointy and stiff. She recently discovered that grabbing the boobage area, she could make her Nip-Nips stand out and look larger and flat, but it disconcerts her that they appear concave when she does that. She thinks she poked a hole in her Nip-Nips by squeezing them and further abusing them. She insists that they're broken. Now, her poor little Nip-Nips are red, raw and in places, bruised and very pink. She's almost creating blood blisters. She screams at the burning sensation she's causing, but can't seem to help herself. We've tried covering them and and putting bandaids on them... we've even but on antiseptic wash. She's OK when she's wearing clothes. But the instant they start to feel better, she starts all over again.

Go ahead, you can chuckle. We do. But it's quite sad to see the red marks and fingerprints she's leaving on her chest, with the little red dots under the skin as she cries big crocodile tears and has red streaky cheeks. Poor kid. I don't know what to do!!!