She goes without feeds during the day (if at nursery or with other care givers), though when she sees me again, usually in the evening wants milk. She feeds to sleep at bedtime and even though during the day she’ll let others rock/cuddle her to sleep, she won’t do this with anyone at bedtime and I have to feed her to sleep at the start of the night and throughout the night if she wakes. She can sleep through the night unless poorly and right now has another nursery virus (she’s pretty much had them constantly since December) so waking multiple times a night. She feeds briefly in the morning when getting up for the day.
I like breastfeeding her and am usually of the mindset that I am happy to night feed until she gives it up herself, but right now, I’m sore and tired. She only has 2 teeth but has really strong latch and is feeding for hours at night, multiple times and won’t let anyone else soothe her. She shouts, slaps and pulls at me if I try and resist feeding and cuddle/rock as an alternative. My nipples feel like they did when in the 1st week of breastfeeding. She also slaps and scratches the breast as she feeds, so I’m in shreds there too. There’s no yeast infection on the nipple or anything, it’s just over-used, raw and sore. Co-sleeping doesn’t really help as she wakes and demands milk and if I feed on my side in bed, the latch isn’t always great and exacerbates the problem.
My toddler gave up breastfeeding gradually but steadily of her own accord from 12-15 months, ceasing finally as I got pregnant with the baby but I can’t see that happening with the baby anytime soon.
I don’t know what to do. Unlike when she was a newborn, I’m back at work and struggling on 3-5 hours disturbed sleep every night and I’m in pain throughout the night.