Almost weaned = sudden upsurge in anxiety?

[justthinkn]

Does this make sense? I've realized that in the last few weeks I've had a lot of stress and anxiety symptoms, especially in the late afternoon and evening - flushing that feels hot and tingly, jaw pain, headaches... But there's nothing abnormal going on in life. The only thing I can think of is that about a month ago I dropped from nursing 4x/day to 2x, and now for the last few weeks just once for about 10 minutes before DD's midday nap/quiet time. I don't feel depressed per se, which is what I've always heard about, and it's normal for me to be a little tired and frazzled by afternoon But I feel bad/weird just physically now in the afternoons, and it seems to last basically until DD goes to sleep. Do you think this could be the connection?

[justthinkn]

Anyone? When I mentioned it to DH, he said that weaning was his first thought... The flushing is so bad, it reminds me of menopausal women joking about hot flashes, so I guess hormone shifts would make sense.

[Kay's Celts]

Hi,
I don't post much ... mostly lurk every so often, but I saw this post and has to reply. I think you are noticing something ... at least I think I've noticed an increase in anxiety too as my little girl has been decreasing her nursing.

She'll be 3 in May and in the past month or so she sometimes only nurses once or twice during the day so we are only nursing for a long time in the morning when she wakes up and before bed ... and a couple of times during the night.

With that being said, I do have an anxiety problem but it has definitely gotten worse since the decrease in nursing frequency. I read on line somewhere that oxytocin is a more powerful hormone and affects our mood even more than serotonin which is said to play a big part in anxiety/depression.

I never thought about her nursing less and had that make me anxious ... I just was. Now I'm on a very small dose of Paxil and am doing much, much better. I guess I need a little something ... been anxious most of my life really.

Take care!

[lifeguard]

When the baby nurses your body releases hormones. I know I have found I can feel myself relaxing when ds nurses. There's even been times I've been noticeably upset or anxious & within a few minutes of nursing I feel much better. So I suppose reducing how often you nurse could increase your overall anxiety level.

[justthinkn]

Thanks for the replies. I'm going to give it a few weeks, and see what happens. No plans to fully wean yet, so hopefully my body will adjust before we get to that point.