This week’s Breastfeeding Blog Hop topic is: Bumps in the Road. You know, the tough moments, days, weeks (hopefully not months but those too). How to you endure? What are your tips and tricks for surviving your specific breastfeeding related obstacle?
I write a lot about how much I enjoy breastfeeding E, but nursing at 15 months comes with its own set of challenges. It’s not all puppy dogs and sunshine E’s sleep pattern seems to be changing week to week. We’ve been dealing with it for the past few weeks and just as we seem to establish a good cycle, it gets thrown for a loop. It is especially challenging because D and I usually have work the next morning.
There have been nights where E wakes up in the middle of the night and wants to hang out and play. He’ll sit up, talk, sing, slap us in the face… the usual. There’s no real way to get him to go back to sleep other than to play or hang out for a while. D and I try and take turns sitting up with him, at least one of us gets some sleep! We’ve both had our fair share of nights on the couch with E. We seem to have solved this by making sure E is thoroughly tired before bed! Lots of walking and playing during the day ensures a solid night’s sleep for all of us!
Some nights E wakes up and fusses because he wants to nurse or comfort nurse. In the past, that has been easy to take care of – roll over, unlatch the nursing tank, and pop out a boob. He nurses and we both fall asleep. Lately his latch has gotten lazy in the middle of the night. It gets uncomfortable quickly and I end up laying there awake while he nurses or comfort nurses. I haven’t really found a good way to deal with this, other than unlatching and relatching him. Unfortunately I can only do this so many times before he wakes up pissed off. I’ve tried a paci, but some nights he doesn’t tolerate them.
I would love some tips for how to deal with comfort nursing and lazy latch. I’m more sleep deprived than usual and don’t want it to affect my work any more than it has. I’m not sure if I want to wean completely since we had a very rough start and I fought hard to get here.
Lactivist In Louboutins 
Hang in there! I wish I had some help for you but I've got none! I was going to suggest to re-latch but you've already tried that. Maybe you might want to think about night weaning. My son night weaned on his own at 18 months due to my supply dropping from my pregnancy, but since then my sleep has been so much better, because he doesn't wake up anymore. Just a thought…..
Good luck! 🙂
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My daughter would get lazy at night too, she still does. I have been lucky though, she will tolerate me unlatching her and letting her drape herself over my side without nursing and most of the time she doesn't even fuss. If she does for more than a few seconds, I let her try nursing again. She is 17 months now, so I figure it's okay if she doesn't get to nurse, but I still hate to tell her no.
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I've been thinking long and hard about night weaning for quite some time. My biggest fear is that E will get so mad that he will wean completely. I work during the day so I treasure the time I can nurse him, even those overnights. Maybe night weaning wouldn't be a terrible thing…
Thank you for your encouragement and advice!
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I'm the same way! I've been thinking long and hard about night weaning for quite some time, but this may be the final straw.
Thank you for your advice, Shannon!
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You are certainly welcome. Good luck! I hope it goes smoothly for you.
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Ouch! Lazy latch doesn't sound very pleasant at all.
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