Extended BFing, AP approach and irregular working hours - reconciling it all!

[IAteDavinaForDinner]

OK so you have reassured me about the normality of my 14mo DS's stroppy behaviour.

Now can you please help me get my head round some other stuff?

He relies on BFing when he's teething (every fecking day ATM) or unwell. This is fine in principle - but not so handy if I am at work. I sometimes think it would be better for him to learn other ways of settling/soothing himself when he's feeling crappy and so start to question whether continuing to BF is helping him. But then instinctively I feel he should learn other ways in his own time.

My working hours are unpredictable and sometimes I am not home for bedtime. It's worrying me that I can't even say "I won't be home to put you to bed" because I don't know from one day to the next whether I'll get finished on time or not. It's fine for now - he has a great bond with DP and it's now very rare that he has a meltdown because I am not around - but as he gets older I am concerned about being unable to say whether I will be back or not.

Seems like nothing when I put it into words but it sometimes feels like I am letting him down terribly - admittedly this is usually after a 16 hour day or something similarly extreme, but as he gets more aware of things I feel that the uncertainty will be hard on him

Has anyone else found ways of coping with these issues (aside from lottery wins )?

[madness]

hi, my dd is 2 y old and still bf when I'm around. If dh looks after her she is fine as well without bf (although the nights can be unsettling if I'm not around). She in a way reacts differently to him whether I'm around or not.

I always think that as long as dh is around, it doesn't matter very much whether I'm at home or not.

other dc seem to be fine as well and understand I can't always be there at bedtime/dinner time etc.

[madness]

o, and no, I think it is nice to be able to bf, don't want to " deprive" her of that!!

[IAteDavinaForDinner]

That's reassuring madness - especially that your older kids are also OK with it.