I breastfed my son until last February when he was 21 months, and it was a really easy transition stopping the nursing which surprised me. He pretty quickly lost all interest in my milk-makers and life went on. Now he is 25 months and all of a sudden he reaches out and grabs a boob for comfort. It has been storming pretty frequently and when he wakes up from the thunder he just reaches out and sets a hand on them and just dozes off instantly! It is such a sudden re-interest in them I don't quite know what to think. Has anyone else experienced this? I know that breastfed children do see the breast as a very comforting thing, but I wasn't aware that some still see it as such a comfort after they're weaned. I tell him "honey can you please hold my hand instead of my boob?" and that works pretty well, but he's just so quick to put a hand on them when he's scared or worried I just don't know where it came from all of a sudden.
Re: I don't even know what to title this but it's about boobs! lol
Francesca Pearl is here! Josephine Hope is almost 3!
Oh jeez, that's really sweet! I am so an example of "you know you've been breastfeeding toddlers too long when..." ha ha.
I would just gently steer him towards your hand, which it sounds like you're doing. I know I've seen toddlers pat boobs a lot, I think part of it is just the age, too.
DS2 - Oct 2010 (my VBAC baby!)
One of my good friends FF her son, he's now 16m, and he will rub/hold her boob for comfort.
I don't know that it's necessarily related to BFing as much as the boobs are just something soft/cuddly that toddlers like lol. I think redirecting him to hold your hand sounds like a fine solution and I'm sure it will go away as he gets older.