DD (2.6) asking for breast milk despite the fact that I stopped when she was 13mo.

[NoToastWithoutKnickers]

DD knows that when she was tiny she had all her milk from me. It's come up in conversation both when I've been in the bath and when we've been around new borns bfing. She knows I don't have any milk left.

A few months ago she started asking for milk and when I went to the fridge she'd say "no, I want mummy milk". It didn't last very long, but twice in the last week when she's been really tired and teary she's begged me for mummy milk. She touches my boobs and says "pleeeeeeeeaaaaaaaase!" It's like she knows it would be a comfort.

I've been finding it quite upsetting because I'd love to be able to soothe her with a feed if I could, but I can't and she doesn't understand

Has anyone else experienced this?

[radicalsubstitution]

You could just let her have a little nurse on you

Am I the only person who thinks that is more than a little weird?

[Inneedofbrandy]

You could just let her have a little nurse on you

Am I the only person who thinks that is more than a little weird?

No I think thats really weird to WTF

[RightUpMyRue]

Give her a cup of milk(maybe warm it a little) and a lovely cuddle where she can snuggle up to your boobs with the skin of her face touching the skin of your boobs.

[VoterColonelSebastianDoyle]

Yes thats odd

[VoterColonelSebastianDoyle]

Yes thats odd

[Inneedofbrandy]

OP my ds did used to cuddle up and have a hand down my top or face on my chest till he was about 4. I expect if I had breastfed or he had seen BF babies he would of had the same idea. I wouldn't let her start suckling again though.

[neontetra]

It's not weird to me. I know a lot of women sometimes dry nurse for different reasons. My friend dry nurses her 3yr old to sleep, and she stopped bf ages ago. It works for some!

[MarzipanAnimal]

Not weird at all if the OP is happy to let her nurse

[CouthyMowEatingBraiiiiinz]

My DS3 stopped bf at 12.5mo. He still tries to latch on if I am not trussed up in a very tight top at night, and even if I am, he tries to latch on over my clothes.

He is 21mo now, and hasn't been bf for 9 months now. Surely he should have forgotten by now?

[Posterofapombear]

Brandy you are being vile and overtly sexual about a child wanting comfort.

[Victoria3012]

You could just let her have a little nurse on you.

Very odd indeed.

[Shallishanti]

am shocked at these idiots thinking there's something wrong in a child that age nursing- that would be entirely normal in most places and at most times, just that here and now it would be considered unusual by some- but there are plenty of toddlers still having the occassional bf.

If you want to and it feels OK you could let her have a go- but she will have forgotten how to do it- and of course she won't get anything-but it won't do either of you any harm. You could say the milks all gone now because she's not a baby anymore. Cup of warm milk and a cuddle on your lap instead?

[CecilyP]

^You could just let her have a little nurse on you

Am I the only person who thinks that is more than a little weird?^

No, I did too, but didn't like to be the first to say anything. I don't think it is odd if a child still BFs at 2.6, but this child was weaned ages ago. In answer to OP's question, no I haven't experienced this; I gave up BF at 19 months and it was never mentioned again.

[Inneedofbrandy]

Oh I don't have a problem with extended BF at all. I do think it's very strange to have a child suck your tit with no milk in them. Not even a baby but a child.

[CajaDeLaMemoria]

She won't get anything from breastfeeding - she will probably find it quite upsetting that she can't get anything, and she won't remember how to do it, and it will probably hurt.

I'd second having a cuddle with warm milk. She is missing the closeness rather than the action of sucking, and she probably finds it all a bit confusing. Tell her she's too big for that now (whether that's true is irrelevant, because in her case, she is. She stopped feeding so long ago that bfing isn't possible anymore) and find another way to comfort her. It's that difficult period where she needs a way to soothe - my little sister found great comfort from a special blanket, or you could try a teddie, or maybe those cheap bracelets that match together? A friend who was hospitalised used those - she only wore it when she needed that closeness, but took great pleasure from the fact it was something only mummy and her had, and that they fitted together.

It would be odd to nurse her, because of the points above. It might just distress her further, and it's not (from a behavioural point of view) a good idea to prolong a regression. It also won't help her learn to feel close to you in other ways, and she'll need to in the future.

[PuffPants]

Oh Lordy, that is beyond bizarre. A wind-up surely??

I breast-fed DS till he was nearly 2 and I am a champion of bfing for as long as you like - its marvelous. However, inviting a weaned child to start sucking your nipple when you know there is no milk there is just a big fat freaky no.

[PuffPants]

Shallishanti, nobody has said anything about toddlers bfing - posters are expressing distaste at a weaned child being invited to suck a non-lactating nipple.

[PuffPants]

By the way OP, you know you don't actually have to respond to and indulge your child's every whim don't you?

If you leave it alone, so will she.

[pumpkinsweetie]

WeLove That is wrong & very weird!
I would just tell her that mummy has ran out of milk and mummys milk is only for little babies and that she's such a big girl now that she could try out a milkshake instead?

[Shallishanti]

But the child is asking to bf!
What harm in letting her try and discover she can't? Then show her the things she CAN do that a baby can't. Maybe she needs to regress a little, maybe she is finding life stressfull (new nursery or something) why not just let her pretend a little and give her what she seems to need - comforting and 'babying'- she's only little!

[PuffPants]

Wouldn't it be easier just to ignore it and let it pass. Which it will, in about a day!

[Shallishanti]

It's not like 'indulging a whim' for junk food or something otherwise harmful- she wants comfort, like we all do sometimes.