XP: not sure what to do about nursing anymore

jesstellina

DD is 18 mos and still breastfeeding at night. She associates it with getting ready for bed and begs for it ("nuhhhs!" - nurse) at night and when I get home from work. If I turn her down because it's time for dinner, or too close to bedtime, she gets very upset. It's our bonding time, and we both enjoy it.

We're having a couple of problems now. Because of her age, my hectic schedule, and being pregnant, I'm pretty sure I have close to no milk supply. So she gets frustrated. She wants to keep nursing til she falls asleep, but there's just not that much milk, plus I start to get sore, esp now that I am pregnant. She gets VERY frustrated and refuses to let me rock her, walk around with her, or lay her down and pat her back. She'll let DH do any of these things and doesn't fuss at all.

I'm thinking it may be time to stop nursing altogether. It makes me sad to think about it, but I'm wondering if it might stop the frustration. The question is, how would I phase it out??

Anybody else been in a similar situation or have advice? TIA!

ETA: I should add that she's also been sick recently. She had been doing really well with nursing til she was drowsy, then I'd lay her down and she would fall asleep peacefully on her own. Then she had a few days where she woke up a bunch of times coughing, then crying, and now she seems not to want to fall asleep by herself. Co-sleeping does not work for us, and after she goes to bed is the only time DH and I have together, so I would prefer he not have to hover by her bed for 45 minutes every night.

tokenhoser

For me, the pain with nursing only lasted a couple weeks around where you are in the pregnancy. It doesn't hurt any more.

DS is VERY attached to nursing and I'm not ready to wean him yet. It would be really difficult to accomplish, and I'm not willing to put in that kind of effort. Nursing is easier than weaning, so I'm nursing.

If you want to wean, it sounds like DH will need to put her to bed for a couple weeks. 

As for the busy schedule, I doubt weaning will help much. Kids remain demanding at this age. I like nursing because it keeps him close and still and I can just lie around for a few minutes. 

BelhurstBride

If you're ready to wean, then wean, but be prepared for her to not be happy about it. (Assuming she's not ready to wean.) 

DD self weaned a couple of months ago. She started complaining that it didn't work anymore and would get frustrated. When she started getting really frustrated I started helping the weaning along by reminding her that mommy's milk was all gone. She was okay with it as long as she still got in some snuggle time.

Around her age, in an effort to improve sleep, we started breaking the NTS association. I started talking to her about how she can't nurse all night but could sit and snuggle me. Eventually we transitioned to DH taking over bedtime. It made things a lot easier.