Supply issue? Sleep regression? Whatever it is...

[LROM]

...it's about to drive me over the edge!

DD is almost 17 months and has always woken many times to nurse during the night. But once she started nursing she'd drop off again in a good sleep for a little while.

About 1 1/2 months ago I stopped pumping at work because it was only to produce enough for her to drink at daycare (6 oz total/day) and I tested to see if she'd be ok not having milk at daycare and she was fine. So I stopped pumping. I'm also hoping to nightwean her soon, so I wasn't so troubled by my supply possibly decreasing a bit.

Soon after I stopped pumping I noticed that while she's awake and nursing, she switched breasts far far more often than ever before. I figured I was producing less milk, and just noted the change but it didn't seem to be a problem so I didn't worry.

But for the last 2 weeks it's like she hardly reaches that deep sleep even for the 2 hrs she used to and instead goes into a deepish sleep when I first nurse her to sleep, but then wakes up 2 hrs later and for the next 5-6 hours just constantly goes back and forth from boob to boob. All. Night. She seems to sleep for little periods between, and not totally wake up if I don't wake her as she switches boobs, but she is constantly looking to shift boobs which of course means I'm getting NO sleep.

Then she falls into a deep sleep one more time from about 6ish until 8ish with no boob searching.

I got her headcold 2 weeks ago which usually would have passed by now, but because I'm SO much more sleep-deprived than usual, mine turned into full-fledged sinus infection.

Any ideas on what may be going on and the best way to address it? Oh one more detail - she also incessantly plays with the nipple she's not nursing on, which is starting to mean that because she's shifting and moving all night, my nipples are very unhappy with the whole thing because each nipple is constantly being engaged.

Any advice welcome!

[spughy]

Did you take antihistamines for your cold? Because that'll drop your supply, sometimes significantly. If not, have you gotten your period back, or could you be pregnant? Do you feel like your supply has dropped?

Supply *could* be it, but my bet is that it's comfort nursing, not nutritive, and it's one of those vicious cycles that kids fall into sometimes - not enough sleep one night, so they need more help and comfort the next, which ironically doesn't help them sleep more deeply... at 17 months she can certainly get enough food during the day (breastmilk and otherwise, even if you're working) to get her through an 8-hour stretch at night. So if you want to nightwean, don't worry that it'll deprive her of calories. Can your partner sleep with her for a few nights while you recover on the couch? Or even for part of the night?

[LROM]

Thank you so much for responding!

I only started antimhistamines in the last 3 days, whereas this "switching boobs literally every 5 seconds" has now been going on for more than a month.

It's comforting to hear that hopefully it's not a nutritive issue that's making her switch back and forth so much, and that hopefully I can still look at nightweaning.

If anyone else has an ideas or things I can try, I'd appreciate any other ideas!

Thanks Spughy!