Why Do I Want to Bite My Baby?

While it may seem like a common reason for wanting to bite something because of some kind of agitation or feeling hungry (this is why most animals bite another), there are many other reasons behind this behavior. When it comes to wanting to bite a baby, this is actually a rather normal reaction to seeing something so cute. For women, this urge to bite or nibble their baby is brought on because of the brain's perception and association of seeing something cute. This is due to the fact that just the smell or sight of a newborn sends off pleasure signals in a woman's brain that resembles those when they consume a food they have been craving.

Dopamine, the pleasure hormone, is released when both smelling a newborn and seeing them, which can often lead to a mix up in signals to the brain. This crossing of signals gives woman the urge to bite their babies in a harmless way.

This behavior is also a very common social behavior among primates. In the wild, you would witness some monkey groups that line up to handle another monkey's baby. During this, the monkey will rub their noses or mouths against the baby and nuzzle them. So, the urge to snuggle up next to a newborn and nibble them is something that can be dated back to the beginning days of the evolutionary process.

So "why do I want to bite my baby" isn't a question that is asked because you want to actually bite your baby or hurt them. It is more of a teasing nip like puppies will do when they play. This is a behavior that is not done to hurt but is a behavior that exhibits trust.

Biting isn't the only seemingly aggressive behavior that an adorable baby may bring out. When you see a cute and chubby little baby, you might have found yourself saying things like “I could just squeeze you to death”, or “your round little cheeks just make me want to die.” What brings out these desires?

A group of Yale graduate students wondered the same thing, so they did a brief experiment to see if they could pinpoint the reason. During the experiment, 90 individuals were shown images of different animals. These images ranged from funny to ordinary to cute, the individuals were also given bubble wrap when viewing the images.

What the experiment showed was that when the individuals saw an image of something cute, they became more aggressive and popped more of the bubble wrap. This is referred to as cute aggression, so if you ask "why do I want to bite my baby", you can rest assured as it is a natural response to simply seeing something cute.

Now that you understand that the urge to bite, squeeze and nibble your baby is completely normal, so you have nothing to worry about. Babies do plenty of cute things so don't be alarmed if you feel like nipping your little one because of these adorable things your baby does.

• When you see a baby cry, you will, of course, have the urge to comfort them. But, a majority of babies won't produce actual tears until they are two months old, and when those tears start rolling, you might feel the urge to gobble your little one up even more.

• When your little one takes a hold of your finger, you not only want to nibble on their little fingers, but you'd also be surprised by their strength. Most newborns have such a strong grasp that they could support their own weight just by holding on to something with their hands.

• The legs of your newborn can give you the urge to bite them. This could be because they do not develop kneecaps until after 6 months of age.

• A baby's head is about a quarter the size of their whole body. This disproportion of their head to body is what makes them look so much cuter.

• Once your baby is about six weeks old, they will begin to smile more. Don't be alarmed if you feel the urge to bite that cute little face, even more, when this happens.

• Why is it so common for moms to ask "why do I want to bite my baby"? Possibly because babies can instantly tell the difference between their mother's smell and voice from other adults.

• Nearly 80% of babies will have a birthmark which can cause you to want to nibble the area.

• Unlike other primates, human babies are the only babies that will smile at their parents.

• If your baby is born in May, you might have a greater urge to bite your baby. These babies tend to be heavier than other babies, which means they will have more adorable rolls to love.

• Newborn babies won't cry for the first few months, but you will find every howl and scream absolutely adorable.

• Your baby's little bald head may just be too cute. While your baby may have a full head of hair at birth, this hair tends to fall out in the first few weeks and won't grow back until they are about a year old.

• Your baby's most sensitive touch receptors are located around and in their mouth. This is why they will often immediately put everything near or in their mouth once they feel it, which you won't get tired of watching.

• Newborn babies are the cutest when they sleep and for the first year, they will sleep a lot. The average baby is only alert for 3 minutes every hour, since the brain uses up most of the glucose supply.

• Once your baby learns to laugh, be ready for cuteness overload. Babies will laugh on average 3,000 times a day, where adults only laugh about 60 times a day.