Firstly, he seems to be under the impression that breastfeeding is a form of greeting. I only have to pop upstairs with the washing and come down again to be greeted with excited squeals of "Mama!!" as he races delightedly towards me, pudgy little legs pumping, hand furiously signing 'milkies', and he thinks then we have to sit down for a cuddle and a feed.
As soon as he sits on my lap for any reason he assumes he's going to have a feed and starts pulling at my top.
He feeds much of the night and while that's not ideal it's bearable, but I really wish he wasn't quite so focussed on feeding all day long too.
If I try and distract him or even just say no he has a dramatic screaming, sobbing meltdown, which is just silly because he's not hungry or thirsty and I'll give him as much attention and cuddles as he likes, but I just feel as though it's not unreasonable at his age to say I cannot ALWAYS be breastfeeding him.
This morning, after feeding much of the night, he had a lovely long feed in bed and then his dad took him downstairs while I had a shower. I came down 10 minutes later to give him breakfast. His sister wanted pancakes so I gave them a bowl of grapes to be getting on with while I made pancakes and yet still ended up trying to cook with a wailing, gnashing distraught ds clinging pitifully to my thighs and hysterically signing for milkies.
FGS!
I can't help it, I just feel irritated which isn't fair because I so want to be a nice mummy, lovingly breastfeeding my toddler on demand while making pancakes for breakfast and singing songs from the Sound of Music.
Help. Please.