(I also posted this in Breastfeeding Beyond Infancy, but am hoping for a broader pool of toddler-parenting ideas here.)
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My 14-month-old normally nurses about 7/8/9 times in a 24-hour period at this point, including during the night (he sleeps with us, so I'm not totally aware of how often he nurses at night. At least twice, I think.) (ETA that he eats plenty of solids as well.)
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But over the past few days, he has wanted to nurse seemingly constantly, starting with epic pre-wake-up nursing sessions in the early morning, to wanting to nurse over and over again when I get home in the afternoon.
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First, any idea what could be going on here? Could he be teething again? He doesn't seem cranky or in discomfort, and I can't feel teeth coming through, but he's wanted to nurse for comfort when he was teething previously. Or is this developmental? He's increasingly adventurous and independent - could this be him needing to be sure that the comfort of the boob is still available to the intrepid explorer? Or is he in a growth spurt? Do toddlers still nurse a lot when they have a growth spurt?
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Second, I have never tried to regulate how often he nurses, I wouldn't even be asking this question if not for the fact that my nipples are really, really sore. I don't think it's thrush. I think they're just, um, overused. I got lucky and never had much nipple pain when we were learning to breastfeed, so I don't know what to do about this now.
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Help?
