toddler obsessed with the boob

[babyface15]

My 21 mo little girl (bless her) is obsessed with mommy's milk. She wakes several times a night to feed and has never slept through. She also needs to be touching and pawing at my breasts to fall asleep which I've been working on by getting her to hold my hands instead (even though it takes much longer for her to fall asleep).

I'm a birth doula and have a few clients coming up this spring. She has started to become extremely upset at night when I'm gone. I wish I didn't have to leave her but I can't cancel on these women this late in their pregnancies.

I'm wondering if night weaning would help or make things worse when I'm gone?

Any suggestions are GREATLY appreciated

 

[AK89]

Don't have any advice I'm afraid, just wanted to say well done for keeping it up so long! She must find great comfort in you and that's adorable I feel like my girl's gonna be the same.. She's always been a big fan of the boob! Haha.. not looking forward to weaning her, especially since she is pretty touch and go with the bottle.

So yeah, sorry for the lack of advice, just wanted to say good on you and I hope you work it out soon!

 

[Berri]

Congrats on making it this far

I BF DS1 until a day before he turned 2 but by tnen he was 1 feed a day (morning). It was his choice. That is not to say that he doesn't paw at my boobs every chance he gets!!

I've never gone through weaning other than baby-led so not sure about the best way to tackle it. I would suggest maybe having dad go in during the night if he can; see if it works.... If she'll take a bottle from him it will also keep her hands occupied!

Hopefully someone has some tested advice for you soon

 

[staralfur]

I'm sure night weaning would help. I never tried it myself, but I've known people to love the Jay Gordon method.

I had to night wean my LO shortly after she was 2, it was not my favourite time... but it's been great knowing that she doesn't require boob to fall asleep. I basically just cut it out completely between bedtime and when she woke up for the day. For us, we basically just replaced the nursing with her holding onto my hand and me "shhh"ing.

It was rough for the first couple of weeks because she didn't understand why I wouldn't let her nurse, but it's been totally fine ever since.