anyone with a nursing toddler?!

[momma_dna]

DS is almost 20mo and still likes to nurse for nap and bedtime, it's his crutch to get to sleep especially for naps. It's so painful and I think I'm close to drying up. I'm really wanting him to wean during this pregnancy as I don't want to tandem nurse him and the new baby. I think he seems to get it at night, because he will only try to nurse for about five minutes, but nap time he doesn't want to let go until he's pretty much passed out (anywhere from 30-45min!). If I try to unlatch him early he throws an absolute fit and sometimes fully wakes himself up in anger to the point of not wanting to go back to sleep. It is so painful and I don't enjoy it anymore. Really hoping he weans. Any advice?

[mmeneely]

Tell him that nursey is for the baby in your tummy and that the baby needs the milk and he can have 'this!' Voila! Present him with a super-cool new cup. Our daughter only just stopped last month and she is 32mos and she got a new Merida cup.
Kudos to you mamma, I completely understand.

[Leaner]

My nursling is almost 22 months. I haven't dried up and I'm not worried about it... yet. (It also doesn't hurt thank goodness!)
We did night wean and it involved a. lot. of. crying! But she nursed for about 10 minutes at night after her story and then goes to sleep. Sometimes with me sometimes alone. She nurses at 4am (i'd love to cut this one out, too!) and we sleep until 6-7. Naps are still the worst and we're struggling with that.

[momma_dna]

Originally Posted by Leaner My nursling is almost 22 months. I haven't dried up and I'm not worried about it... yet. (It also doesn't hurt thank goodness!) We did night wean and it involved a. lot. of. crying! But she nursed for about 10 minutes at night after her story and then goes to sleep. Sometimes with me sometimes alone. She nurses at 4am (i'd love to cut this one out, too!) and we sleep until 6-7. Naps are still the worst and we're struggling with that.

How far along are you? I'm 17w and it just hurts, it is a different hurt than in the beginning of the pregnancy, so it is what leads me to think I am drying up. Our night weaning involved lots of crying too

[greeneyedambe]

I am still nursing my 27 month old. I have nursed through two other pregnancies and expect this will likely be no different.

[greeneyedambe]

I wish I had advice on what would help you but I have the same reactions from my son if I even try to make him stop nursing when he is trying to fall asleep. :/

[abunchoflemons]

We switched to almond milk when I got pregnant because my milk dried up real quick..... I would do same as if he bought say no & not bf.

[wrensmom]

I weaned my two year old a little after Thanksgiving. It was sore for me too and there wasn't much milk. Night weaning happened before that though and wasn't too bad for us... as long as I had my husband go in to him (I explained to my son that if he woke up at night he wouldn't get 'boobie milk' anymore and papa would come in and he would get water and cuddles and he had a rough time the first couple nights but then he was fine).

We had cut down to nursing 3 times a day - morning wake up, before nap and before bed. I decided to wean on a weekend so my husband could put him to sleep for nap and night and it was smoother than I thought. Maybe we were just lucky. He does still ask for it occasionally and I tell him we don't do that anymore and there is nothing there.. he yells and whines for about 10 seconds and then is fine (especially if I offer a cracker or some sort of snack). My older daughter we also weaned around two years old and was pretty easy too. I guess they were both old enough to where we could explain it to them?

I always thought tandem nursing was cool and would like to try it, but overall I decided that if it turned out I didn't like tandem nursing it would be a lot harder to wean my toddler with a newborn. And I knew that the newborn would be nursing all the time which would make it so much harder on the toddler....

anyway... that's my rambling two cents! good luck!

[Phaedramekko]

My dd is 21 months old and is still all about my boobs. I am 20 weeks along and my boobs are so sore. Just lightly touching them hurts so when she nurses it feels unpleasant. At times it feels more like she is biting my boobs. She nurses 3-4 times a day and likes to hang out on my lap while having her hand down my shirt. Sorry I do not have any advice I just know how you are feeling. Good luck!

[momma_dna]

so update... I decided last night I was not going to let DS nurse anymore, because it's just too painful. Last night he put up a decent fuss, but I just kept trying to console him and tell him "no nursing, it hurts mommy". Before I put him down for a nap today, I explained to him that it was nap time and no nursing because it hurts mommy, but we can rock. He didn't want to rock or be walked around to sleep, just said he wanted to be in his crib. So I put him in, sang to him for a bit and rubbed his head. He relaxed and waved bye, so I left. He fussed for a second and when I came back in it's because he wanted me to cover him up with his blanket. So I did and he waved bye and I walked out. Five minutes later he's quiet and asleep. So my baby is weaned it seems and it was much easier to do than I thought it'd be. Mixed emotions, sad my baby is growing up but at the same time happy to be out of pain. I really did not want to tandem nurse him and a newborn. Happy and blessed we made it to 20 months!