Feeling burnt out. help!

[Carhootel]

My 10mo is nursing even more than he did as a newborn lately. He still has VERY little interest in solids and I'm trying not to push it too hard, I want solids to be fun. He's super into scratching, clawing, kneading my breasts and I feel like my breasts are a battleground of middle of the night nursing sessions. It's seriously 30 minutes - flip over, 30 minutes - flip over. all. night. long. or at least it feels like it. It's been about 2-3 weeks now and it's not really getting better. He always wants to nurse!

The first few months he was born nursing was such a dream I thought I'd never want to stop, now I find myself reading threads on nightweaning because I want my body back! at least a little bit. I finally realized I needed to ask for help when dh took ds this morning for a couple hours and I felt like a whole new woman for having my body to myself for two whole hours.

The thing is that when he's distracted/out with daddy he doesn't need milk but as soon as he sees me he gets whiny, pulls at my shirt, etc.

I hate feeling burnt out and I really don't want to be resentful of ds, but I see how we could get there. I don't pump, he doesn't take bottles so that's not an option. Help!

I feel guilty too because I feel like I want him to nurse less but if he nurses less I feel like I'll miss it and he's growing up so fast and I'm not cherishing all these moments with him. They're not really sweet moments though, they are acrobatic, scratching, clawing moments.

[woodchick]

DD2 is just a couple weeks younger than your DS and we're going through some similar things. The pinching and hair pulling drive me batty!

I'm afraid I haven't got any great solutions. Getting some alone time is a huge help for me when I'm feeling touched out. Sometimes it isn't the nursing that is the issue. It's that when I'm not nursing I'm still 'on duty'.

I do try to get DD2 distracted with little activities during the day which gives me a bit longer stretch between nursings.

As for food, she eats a TON of solids and still nurses all night, so getting him to eat more solids might not help you out.

Is he getting enough exercise/movement during the day? DD2 sleeps a little better/longer if say, we've been at the library where she has much more crawling space than here at home.

I seem to remember with DD1 that 9/10 months were tough in the sleep department. I don't remember how we got through it, but I guess we did.