[mommy to Payton]

My son is almost 15 months and I was planning on letting him self-wean but these last few weeks I'm really reconsidering. He absolutely will not fall asleep(after he wakes up during the night) without being latched on. He's not even nursing, but he wants my breast in his mouth kind of like a paci. And as soon as I move--he pops right back up again. Its really beginning to hurt because he'll hold my breast in his mouth with his teeth

: . Thats not all. He WILL NOT sit still when we nurse. He flops all over the place, kicks me in the face, jams his feet into my legs. He scratches and pinches me, (used to--I got it cut) pull's my hair. I've tried using a "nursing necklace" and giving him something to rub on like a blanket but he just throws them. I really don't want to stop nursing him but he's HURTING ME. What can I do? FYI--he will NOT take a paci--I've tried 4 different kinds. Totally not interested.

 

[kavamamakava]

This is a great time for early discipline. I don't mean punishment, I just mean teaching him about boundaries. My daughter has been trying to dig into my belly button for over a year now while she nurses. I offer her other things to hold and try to hold her hand as well as remind her not to do it. She compromises by setting her hand on my stomach next to my belly button. It's the weirdest compulsion.
I think it might work to softly remind him to settle down while nursing. Maybe play a game while he nurses like massage his legs or hold his hands. Nursing acrobatics are high on my list of annoying things too. To the point where I want to scream. Communication is key. Tell him that it hurts your breast when he moves too much. Maybe sit somewhere that he can push his feet against the wall while he nurses instead of moving everywhere.
As for the latch at night, he'll get used to it if he can't bite your nipple all night. Just tell him that it hurts you and you need him to stop. Then help him unlatch. A night or two of loud protests from him over it have got to be better than martyring yourself to pain for an endless amount of nights. He's probably teething. You could offer him some Hyland's teething tabs or gel (or something like that) before he nurses and at night.
I found that age to be a very distracted age for nursing. But my kids got back into nursing a lot and nursing calmly around 16 months.

 

[CountryMom2e]

I agree with the PP - nursing manners might help. DS occasionally gets really squirmy when we nurse. What I've done is to have us nurse on the bed in his room with the shades down and soft ocean sounds on the CD player. If he's really wiggly, I give him a few warnings and ask him to settle down. If he doesn't, *num nums* go away for a bit and he can get down and play on the floor, or we read a book together. Then if he wants to try later we can. It works well - I'd say I only have to do this every few weeks.

As for the nighttime, I had to stop co-sleeping with DS around 11 mo because he would do the same thing with latching on, and he was kicking me in his sleep. As it is I have bruises all over from him climbing on me! I night-weaned him around 13-14 mo, which worked well for us but may be more extreme than you want to do. But then again, night-weaning is easier than complete weaning - it just allows you to put some limits on when you want to nurse. We now nurse almost anytime he likes between 7a and 7p. We nurse one last time before bed, he sleeps in his crib, and if he wakes I do go in and comfort him but no nummies, no co-sleeping. We do nap together during the day, for some reason he's always treated naps differently than sleeping.

GL!

 

[abac]

When my ds gets squirmy, I make him stand to nurse. Hard to kick your feet everywhere when you need them to stand! I realize this won't work at night, but maybe during the day?