pregnant and toddler suddenly wanting to nurse all the time

[Rebeckam]

I'm looking for other's experiences with similar situation and how handled:

I have 21 month old who loves to nurse and I'm happy to continue. I'm 27 weeks preg too. Plan to nurse both for as long as works for all of us. 

Problem: in the last few weeks DS has decided that he wants to nurse all the time and that in order to nap, sleep many eves wants to be latched on. Even waking, refusing to go back to sleep when limits set.  I think some of this has to do with my returned milk supply (was low for months). He talks about the baby in belly, he does tummy to tummy, he "feeds" and cuddles the baby by patting my belly. doesn't seem to be a jealous/concern issue.  

I'm exhausted and getting worn out by this. I've done the dr jay gordon night weaning (an adaptation of it where we limit falling completely to sleep at the breast and I have a few hours over night I don't allow BF. I got lax, but have gone back to this.

Suggestions for mantaining sanity while meeting toddler needs??  Experiences: did this change on own? thoughts on why this sudden increase?

thanks

[SilverFish]

my dd is only 1.5 years old and i'm not pregnant, so you can take my advice with a grain of salt if you want! 

toddlers are still going through major growth spurts (physical and developmental) that are very intense for them to deal with, just as younger babies are. chances are, there's something going on in his brain or body that is triggering the increased need for nearness to mom, physical comfort of sucking, and maybe even the nutritional benefits of the milk itself. 

you have to decide for yourself what kind of limits you want to set and how strictly to enforce them. you can either be relatively assured that this is a short phase that will pass and keep nursing as often as he wants (and expect that nursing will again increase and maybe fluctuate after the baby's arrival). or you can decide to set some limits on nursing and stick to it, and ride out the couple of rough patches until he figures out how to live within those limits. 

for me, i was getting worn out and annoyed by nursing a couple months ago and decided that if i didn't have some limits i was going to quit altogether. now we don't nurse at all out of the house, and i limit nursing at home to maybe twice a day. it's just what worked for me and made me feel good about nursing again. we have periods when my dd is butting up against those limits constantly... just like she is for every other limit i have set for her. i try to meet her needs for comfort and nutrition as best i can without nursing (lots of cuddling, hugs and kisses; yummy nutrient packed snacks and smoothies) and within a few hours to days, we are over that rough patch and back to being totally good with the nursing routine. if she's sick or i otherwise sense she has a stronger need for nursing, then i can accommodate that, but for just regular toddler limit testing, i don't feel bad about saying, "not now, honey, when we get home" or "the milk is going to sleep now" etc. and just waiting out the frustration. 

do you have a partner to support you at night? i find that dealing with night waking with a determined toddler really requires a tag-team!