I need help.

[C-Momma]

Ds is almost 3. I am 14 weeks pregnant. His only means of getting to sleep is nursing, and since becoming pregnant, his nursing has been mostly around bedtime. I offer once or twice a day and he usually accepts, but without offering he only nurses at night.

I am REALLY struggling with night nursing. For some reason, he does a shallow latch and very light suck...I can easily pull my nipple from his mouth, simply by moving away. It drives me CRAZY. I can't stand it...It gives me the creepy-crawlies and makes me despise nursing.

However, I love and value our nursing relationship and CLW is very important to me. I need some serious help. He doesn't change the pattern when asked to open wide, to suck the nipple in his mouth or to "stay attached". Removing my nipple only aggravates him and prompts him to suck momentarily and then return to the shallow latch and irriatating pattern. Starting and stopping this process has extended how late he stays up at night although he still wakes at the same time the next morning...I am getting VERY frustrated...he is frustrated and I need help. Please give me some ideas.

[KSLaura]

I don't have any specific advice. Nursing was really hard, at least for me, during pregnancy. It seemed to be especially irritating during the 1st trimester. It did get a little better during the middle part of pregnancy... Maybe a time limit for night-time nursing would help? For my own sanity, I had to limit my daughter to 5-10 miuntes in the evening instead of the hour long nursing session she would have prefered. I am all for child-led weaning...as long as I can maintain my sanity!

Congratulations on the new bean. You will LOVE nursing the new baby!

[ElliesMomma]

offer a few more times during the day to keep the nursing connection.

feed him more, especially around bedtime. maybe some cow milk too if you do cow milk.

give it some time to settle down.

my DD is just over three, and i'm almost 24 weeks pregnant. the first trimester was hard. she was adjusting to having less milk, and waking up hungry all the time, or announcing she's hungry at bedtime.

lately, the past month or so, she's sleeping through the night.

as for the pain, i just decided early on to suck it up. i want to tandem and am bound and determined to nurse through the pregnancy.

the initial latch on is still painful, but thereafter it stops hurting. she claims she is getting milk - i can't know for sure. but she continues to be an avid nurser. i offer throughout the day, and don't refuse, although occasionally i put her off if i'm too busy at the moment she wants.

i guess my advice for the painful latch at night would be to try to minimize this nursing session. (by feeding him more so he's less hungry -- also try to wear him out more, so he goes to sleep more easily -- at least for the time being. you also might find that things "calm down" in the months ahead and that this is a particularly rough patch right now).

but in order to keep him nursing, you may need to establish other times for more awake suckling, such as first thing in the morning? that's a big important time around here.

good luck!