DS is 2y9m and we're down to pretty much just nursing at night. Sometimes he asks to during the day, but I made an effort a while back to limit us to night nursing only because he was a super distracted on-offer that never seemed as interested in getting milk as he was exposing his mother. I don't have a problem with being exposed for the sake of feeding my child, but having my shirt lifted and my nipple pulled on for 2 seconds every 2 minutes was making me really hate nursing. I felt so used. When he did/does nurse at night, he'll actually latch on and nurse for a while, which I find very relaxing and a nice time for both of us.
I thought I'd just want to continue like this until he decided he was done, but now I'm starting to feel differently. I'm not sure why this is, but for some reason I just don't feel like either of us are getting as much out of our nursing relationship anymore. I think it stems from me having been away for 4 nights twice in the past few months for work, and he's done really well with DH in the night. He would still wake at night, but completely understood that I wasn't there to nurse, and was just as happy to snuggle up with his dad. A few times he's woken up next to me in the night and not asked to nurse, just snuggled up close and fell back asleep. This seems nice to me, and I think I'm ready to transition to that routien.
Since he's very verbal and completely understood our transition to only nursing when it's "dark out", I feel like we can discuss this and come up with a plan together. But I need some ideas for how to frame the discussion. Plus, since he's already opting not to nurse in the night sometimes, can I take this as a sign that he's already starting to wean and I can just keep following his lead? I kind of feel like he's so committed to nursing that I need to somehow reinforce any inclination he might have to cut back on nursing. Is this silly?
I thought I'd just want to continue like this until he decided he was done, but now I'm starting to feel differently. I'm not sure why this is, but for some reason I just don't feel like either of us are getting as much out of our nursing relationship anymore. I think it stems from me having been away for 4 nights twice in the past few months for work, and he's done really well with DH in the night. He would still wake at night, but completely understood that I wasn't there to nurse, and was just as happy to snuggle up with his dad. A few times he's woken up next to me in the night and not asked to nurse, just snuggled up close and fell back asleep. This seems nice to me, and I think I'm ready to transition to that routien.
Since he's very verbal and completely understood our transition to only nursing when it's "dark out", I feel like we can discuss this and come up with a plan together. But I need some ideas for how to frame the discussion. Plus, since he's already opting not to nurse in the night sometimes, can I take this as a sign that he's already starting to wean and I can just keep following his lead? I kind of feel like he's so committed to nursing that I need to somehow reinforce any inclination he might have to cut back on nursing. Is this silly?
