Down in the BF dumps...

[Klynne]

I'm so exhausted, and bf'ed out! (I'm sure many of you can relate (I hope!)). And need to vent!!

Ds is 14mo and though he eats regular meals, still wants to nurse ALL.THE.TIME. I'm a sahm and literally most times I sit down he toddles over to me, climbs up in the chair/sofa/dinning chair and starts pulling on my shirt and pawing at my breasts. This seems to always excited dd (3.5y) and she comes over and asks for nikk too. (I tandem nursed and starting cutting her back about 7 months ago, she currently nurses once a day).


The worst part is ds's reaction if I communicate to him that he may not nurse at the moment he's chosen. He throws a fit, and if I don't give in after about 3 minutes he starts screaming high pitch screams and throwing himself backwards, this is when I give in. I can't stand the screaming and I end up feeling guilty for not giving him what he is seeking. This is where most my frustration is coming from. DD never acted like this.

How can I overcome this? I'm sick of nursing. I'm sick of my breasts being the center of my kids universe ( HA! I'm a super pro breast feeder, my kids have never used a bottle, and here I am in the valley of bfing doom and gloom!).

When dd turned 3 I was able to set boundaries with her and be honest with her about me not wanting to nurse more x amount of times. But what can I do with my sweet ds who's only 14 months!

[ewe+lamb]

I'd be most surprised if other mothers haven't been through this with their nurslings, I found this age particularly hard with both dd and ds. It could be teething certainly at this age, it could be that he just needs you more than your dd did at that age, it's a good thing that he needs you so much, although for you at the moment you're feeling abit touched out and needing a little me time - getting an hour at the swimming pool at the weekend can do wonders! Don't know if you'd be able to do that or something similar? Do you go to mother/toddler groups, are there any toddler LLL groups near you? These sort of groups can really help through the difficult times. If you can't get time on your own, then maybe long walks or something that changes the atmosphere a little will help you. Also what helped me was a mother telling me once that our lo's need us like this for such a short period of time in comparison to our whole life span together that it seems to make it worthwhile - don't know if I've been much help - lol

[Klynne]

Actually, just venting helped a ton! The day after posting I was thinking to myself " Gee, ds is doing great today". I thought about it for a second and though I do think he was generally having a better day I feel more that *I* was the one who was doing so much better! lol

I should get out a bit more, I think it would generally help. There are two LLL groups in my area. I've been to one of them but haven't made the effort to go back. Every time I'm out with friends or out on my own this country song always comes to mind (from my Junior high years lol) "She doesn't want to leave she's just wondering if there's life out there...."

Thanks for replying