Is it time to wean my 1 year old?

[BoyOhBoyFTM]

Still BF my 15 month old son. He has a dairy allergy and a few others, which is why I have persevered with BF as I want to make sure he gets good nutrition. We got into a good groove around 11 months where BF was morning, later afternoon and evening only, and it's been lovely. Great bonding, very relaxing for him, easy peasy. He was a fantastic eater too.

This last month though...he's turned into a boob monster. Wants it all the time. Has become very fussy with food and is making it up by BF at night at 3/4am. A nursing session used to be 5 minutes, he now insists on sitting on the boob for 20-30 minutes. Last night he was on the boob for 35 minutes before he would let me rock him back to sleep.

I tried cosleeping but it's made things worse as he can sense the boob is there and wants it all the time and gets ANGRY if I don't give in.

I am touched out, massively. But I don't know if weaning is the right thing to do. I'd be sad to finish now. Has anyone been through this and persevered and it turned out to be just a phase?

If I could dial down the BF, I would happily continue until 2.

He is not teething at the moment.

Is he getting enough solid food? Maybe he's hungry. Mine lost weight at this age due to starting walking

He's been walking since he was 11 months, he eats a lot of food, like almost adult portions as he's so increidbly active. He basically starts running and climbing the second he opens his eyes.

He is however getting super fussy and I think he is partly making up for it by breastfeeding yes.

It probably is a phase. You could also start introducing "nursing manners" which are quite useful to have with toddlers - basically boundaries around when/where BF is available and when it is not, getting them to ask for it first (using baby signing if not talking yet), not pulling at clothing etc.

I also noticed that this is around the age (at least for my DC) that breastfeeding stopped seeming to work as a "food source" for them, in terms of it seemed to stop satisfying hunger, whereas it had when they were younger. So if they were wanting to feed a lot or for a longer time, it was usually because they were hungry and they didn't understand why BF wasn't working to fix that need.

I would try giving a slow release type small meal for "supper" (e.g. some porridge).

@BertieBotts thank you, I remember reading somewhere in passing about nursing manners, I will look into that ASAP. I agree with maybe him being hungry but the milk doesn't actually satisfy anymore.

We have tried giving him some porridge for supper but he gobbles it up (because it's his fave food in the world) and then seems uncomfortably full. He then still wakes at 4/5am for a good 20-30 minute feed which is a killer as I can't go back to sleep at that time after spending half an hour convincing him to sleep.

If only they could talk and tell us what they want!!!