18 month breastfeeding vampire

[Ruraljurer]

Hello,

I am currently breastfeeding my 3rd child. I stopped the first two at 1 year so I could get pregnant again and I wasn’t getting my period back, so I have no experience of breastfeeding for this long.

The problem I have is that she has turned into a vampire. She won’t leave me alone, screams and scratches my chest if I try to stop her feeding, constantly has her hand down my top. She has a huge appetite at the moment so I think she’s also having a growth spurt, and on top of that she’s teething, so I sort of get it.

I’d just like to hear if anyone else has experienced this because honestly every day I want to quit. My nipples are so sore as if I’m breastfeeding for the first time.

She is absolutely fine when I’m not around, happy and content, it’s just when she sees me she loses her tiny mind. Please tell me this will pass!

It will pass! I’m feeding my 21mo and she has phases of wanting to feed aaaaaaaalll the time and I wonder why on earth I do it but then she goes back to normal and we get our lovely cuddly feeds back.

Usually with DD it’s because she’s ill or teething or developing a skill (often it only becomes obvious what it was once the phase has passed) but then she goes back to normal and I breathe a sigh of relief.

I’ve personally found changing the baseline places / amount / time you’re willing to feed for is best done when they aren’t in one of these phases as they tend to be more cooperative but that said it’s a two way thing, if you’ve had enough it’s ok to cut back / stop if you’re ready.

@SamanthaVimes thank you very much! Such a relief to hear. I don’t know how long I’m going to be able to keep it up for but if things are going to calm down soon then maybe I’ll be able to manage a bit longer. I had no idea that things could be like this with extended breastfeeding

I’ve found it can be quite up and down!

I’m currently waiting for DDs teething to finish and then I’m going to have a go at dropping the bedtime feed which will just leave us with morning and after nursery. We night weaned back in Dec and she goes to sleep without it when DH does bedtime so I’m hoping it won’t be too bad!

Best of luck!

My second was like that from birth; he’d do this awful scrammy thumping thing that went through me so I stopped BFing at 1 month, wasn’t worth the torment 😂.

@FTEngineerM It’s extremely draining!