14 month old nursing like a newborn?

[Alathia]

HELP! My 14 month old has been nursing like a newborn for the past two weeks. He asks for it pretty much every 45 minutes, and throws himself on the floor and cries if I try to redirect him to something else (like actual food or water). If I'm not around (I work on weekends), he is fine and doesn't ask for milk at all. But if I'm around, it's mama mama mama all the time. There's been nothing out of whack or changed in our schedule the past two weeks either.

Is this some sort of separation anxiety, teething pain, or just some sort of new developmental phase? I don't remember this with my older son at all. It's getting to be tiresome because I'm constantly nursing and I feel like I'm really not able to give any one on one time with my other son, and am feeling really touched out with the constant nursing and demands for nursing.

[foodymama]

Hi! I'm sorry I don't have any advice but I just wanted to let you know I'm in the same boat with my 16 mo. old DD. I hope someone else can chime in with some advice as I too feel your frustration and need some suggestions.

[tanyam926]

I know how you feel ladies. It is really common for children to go through phases where they need or want to nurse more or less.

At that age they can't really understand nursing for a set length of time, or at certain times, or only at certain times of the day. As they get older they are more able to understand boundaries in general and you can apply them to nursing. At such a young age distraction is probably what works best. If you sit down and you see them making a beeline for you, grab a book, offer a snack, etc.

My 4 yr old wants to nurse ALL THE TIME for the past few months (middle child syndrome anyone?) and I tell him he can nurse for 1 min, and he is usually okay w/that.

My ds1 never wanted to nurse all the time like my ds2. We will see how ds3 does as he gets older.

Hang in there, I'm sorry I don't have any brilliant advice to solve the problem but I just wanted to say that I understand about feeling touched out and just needing a break from it all. I mean, can I sit down w/out being attacked by 2 kids who are addicted to the mama milk? Geez...!

[gagin37]

my 14 month old does the same thing. He'll want it every hour or more, even if it's just a quick 30 or 40 second suck before he's off and into something else. It's really frustrating, hang in there!