How to stop cosleeping 2yr old from fondeling me all night!

[Morgasaursmom]

our 2 yr old DS has co-slept since birth, and for the most part sleeps in his toddler bed at the foot of our bed. When I put him down for bed I lay next to him and cuddle. He insists on pinching, rubbing touching my breasts though! I now it's a comfort thing, from when he used to nurse, but I think it's time for him to stop. If he wakes at night and crawls in bed with us, he insists on doing the same thing or he almost panics. Any suggestions on getting him to comfort himself?

[EdnaMarie]

Two sports bras. I do it with my one-year-old that somehow ends up in my bed every other night. I don't know how to stop the panicking--my only suggestion is that if you hold his hand and pat his back and hum in a low voice, he will probably stop panicking sooner. Ultimately though he will experience some stress at the change unless he decides to leave it himself.

[kryztuh]

I read somewhere else on MDC that you could try holding hands as your LO falls asleep. Now we read a story and I ask if DS would like to hold my hand. He holds one of my hands and and strokes my other arm with his other hand and it's worked very well.

Good luck!

[mizzoh]

my ds did similar. do you sleep with a shirt on? if not, that may help deter. i also like the idea of holding hands. ds used to like his hands between my breasts, and so the hand holding worked well

[featherstory]

Yeah, I have the same issue... at times it becomes a non-issue, and I guess at other times when she is experiencing personal change or discomfort it becomes more of an issue... she doesn't quite panic anymore, but she does get exasperated... what we do, I explain to her that it is a sensitive area and it makes me feel funny when she 'plays' with me like that... I tell her it doesn't feel good, sometimes when she is extra upset, I just tell her she has to use a flat hand and not move her hands and let her rest her hand there, she has fallen asleep that way.

She was weaned about 5 months ago, due to me being too weak in early pregnancy to nurse her any longer, her dad took her to visit his family and they stayed away about 2-3 days, it was the first time she'd slept without me, and it had been a stressful nursing experience for about 1-2 mos. prior to that, I feel like it was pretty traumatic and I feel bad about it still, I wish there was another way. After I felt better and stronger I tried to get her to nurse again, but it was too stressful of a situation for her, she was accustomed to me getting stressed about it and didn't want to try. She very seldomly asks to nurse, but she goes through phases where she asks to touch every so often, it seems like a 'growth spurt' defense mechanism kind of thing... and during those times other things will start happening with her, like she'll go from using the potty on her own all the time, to wetting herself because she wants one of us to come help her, and we're busy and she talks softly and we can't determine what she wants in time.

Our bedtime routine is very active... we sing a few songs, we give rubs and scratches to each other, we play finger games, hold hands, do hand gestures with the songs... whatever works... it took some time to get into the routine, but whenever it's tough, I add something new to it and she really likes to get into those things. I think something that is stimulating, relaxing and physically engaging at the same time should be able to replace it. I've been intending to make beaded bracelets that we can use to count numbers, do colors, shapes, etc.

btw my daughter will be 3 in a couple months.