constant nursing at 17 months

[queen b]

my 17 month old dd nurses constantly and it's starting to wear me down:
when i say constantly, i really mean constantly. if we are out and she is feeling shy she will try to nurse every 5 minutes or more and at home she wants to nurse every 20 minutes or so and at night she is still nursing every hour! i've tried to offer her other beverages and distract her, but neither work. for a while i was worried that maybe i'm not engaging her enough, but we do so much fun stuff together that i know it can't be boredom. anyway, i love nursing her and don't want to stop, but this is getting ridiculous. has anyone else experienced this or have any advice? i'm starting to feel a little resentful b/c i literally can't do anything without having to stop and nurse her constantly! i don't want to feel this way though...HELP!!

thanks!

just wanted to add that this has been going on for the past 5 months. she had basically self weaned starting at around 10 months, but then started to nurse like a maniac again at around 12 months. is that unusual?

[alegna]

My dd was like that at that age. I feel your pain.

They DO grow out of it.

-Angela

[lramom]

My son was like that for a couple of months at right around the same age - but after a couple of months it really decreased. He still nurses a ton at night, but he's not on top of me pulling my shirt everytime I sit down anymore.

[ryan'smom]

Ds has been doing this recently also. Maybe not as frequently as your dd , but the main reason why I think he might be nursing so much is:
Separation anxiety........sometimes if I leave the room and am out of ds sight, he is running after me, yelling "Mommy, Mommy, milk, milk!!" (and we're the same way, always doing fun things together, and lots of snuggling with books too) I thought I might have read somewhere that this can cause more frequent nursings.......

One thing that I find that can help is to nurse in a dark, quiet room and encourage a good "filling up", instead of the fly-by nursings that just wet the tongue so to speak. It also promotes time for some extra long cuddling. I find that he will go much longer between nursings (2-3 hours) this way.

The nighttime nursing, I know it can be rough! You might want to check out the Nighttime parenting forum for some good ideas/support(if you haven't already!) I've gone back and forth on the whole nighttime weaning idea, and as of now, I've decided that it is in our best interests NOT to try nightweaning at this time. Judging from his needs during the day, I don't expect him to need me less at night....thank goodness for co-sleeping!!

I know it can be frustrating at times, but I'm sure it's just a phase that they're going through, and we are so fortunate to be able to meet their needs in such a special way!....

I know I'm not much help, but just wanted you to know that your not alone!