ugh. forgive the drama, but i am so done, i don't know what to do. my 2 1/2 year old has started nursing more & more & more in the last 6 months. it got to the point where he was nursing from 2am until we got up in the morning. on & off, but mostly on -- he would wake whenever i woke enough to unlatch him.
i stopped eating dairy completely, again (he's allergic & has varying degrees of reaction when i eat it, but it's usually questionable), just to be sure he wasn't in pain, and finally, i nightweaned him about 3 weeks ago. he was doing okay - not great, but okay. in the last week it's gotten worse again. he has 10, 20, 30 minute fits at night to nurse. i rock him, i walk, i rub his legs. i offer him O's and water, even rice milk. night before last I had to go in and stay with him from 11:30 on. he never completely settled and finally, after the 2nd huge fit, I caved at 4:45am and let him nurse (our start time was originally 6:30, then moved to 6am). he nursed while i dozed (i cannot drop into a deep sleep while he's nursing) until 8 am, when i had to get up to get ds1 ready for school. then he fussed & whined & yanked at my legs while i tried to get things ready. it took him an hour to get out of his funk...
today i brought him home after dropping ds2 at his first day of preschool, thinking i would nurse him down for his nap, then get up and have a little time to myself. instead, everytime i unlatched him he screamed & yelled for more, until we had only 15 minutes before we had to pick up ds2 again. and i'd still had no lunch.
i really am tempted to just stop nursing now. i dont want to be melodramatic, but i'm just done. i feel like i'm trying to let him do most of the leading, but what he wants is ridiculous. on a good day, he nurses from 6am - 7:30 or 8 (or whenever we get out of bed), then after being up for 1/2 hour he nurses again for 10-20 minutes. he nurses at least 6-8 times a day, and down for his nap, when he takes one (he does let me get up after he nurses to sleep for his nap 80% of the time, i'd estimate). when he wakes up he is usually fussy & has to nurse for 10-20 minutes again (at least). if he doesn't nap you have to keep him busy in the late evening or he'll fall asleep at 5:30, get up an hour later and then be up (and unhappy) until at least 11pm.
he nurses to sleep (8pm when he doesn't nap, 10 when he does) and usually stays down until 2 am. sometimes midnight. when i'm lucky i just have to rock him for a couple minutes, then lay him down & rub his feet/legs.
i'm just so tired of trying to be patient & put him first and have it blow up in my face. it's like all my beliefs on compassionate parenting are crap & useless with this one. i'm just tired.
i stopped eating dairy completely, again (he's allergic & has varying degrees of reaction when i eat it, but it's usually questionable), just to be sure he wasn't in pain, and finally, i nightweaned him about 3 weeks ago. he was doing okay - not great, but okay. in the last week it's gotten worse again. he has 10, 20, 30 minute fits at night to nurse. i rock him, i walk, i rub his legs. i offer him O's and water, even rice milk. night before last I had to go in and stay with him from 11:30 on. he never completely settled and finally, after the 2nd huge fit, I caved at 4:45am and let him nurse (our start time was originally 6:30, then moved to 6am). he nursed while i dozed (i cannot drop into a deep sleep while he's nursing) until 8 am, when i had to get up to get ds1 ready for school. then he fussed & whined & yanked at my legs while i tried to get things ready. it took him an hour to get out of his funk...
today i brought him home after dropping ds2 at his first day of preschool, thinking i would nurse him down for his nap, then get up and have a little time to myself. instead, everytime i unlatched him he screamed & yelled for more, until we had only 15 minutes before we had to pick up ds2 again. and i'd still had no lunch.
i really am tempted to just stop nursing now. i dont want to be melodramatic, but i'm just done. i feel like i'm trying to let him do most of the leading, but what he wants is ridiculous. on a good day, he nurses from 6am - 7:30 or 8 (or whenever we get out of bed), then after being up for 1/2 hour he nurses again for 10-20 minutes. he nurses at least 6-8 times a day, and down for his nap, when he takes one (he does let me get up after he nurses to sleep for his nap 80% of the time, i'd estimate). when he wakes up he is usually fussy & has to nurse for 10-20 minutes again (at least). if he doesn't nap you have to keep him busy in the late evening or he'll fall asleep at 5:30, get up an hour later and then be up (and unhappy) until at least 11pm.
he nurses to sleep (8pm when he doesn't nap, 10 when he does) and usually stays down until 2 am. sometimes midnight. when i'm lucky i just have to rock him for a couple minutes, then lay him down & rub his feet/legs.
i'm just so tired of trying to be patient & put him first and have it blow up in my face. it's like all my beliefs on compassionate parenting are crap & useless with this one. i'm just tired.
