Dd is just 12 months. We co-sleep (love it!) & I've always demand fed day/night. She's had a dummy since 2 weeks but lately has lost a bit of interest in it. Instead the last couple of months she wants to hold onto my nipple with her mouth to fall asleep (I'm talking for between 10-45 mins) & if I manange to pry it loose & substitute the dummy she cannot settle without then holding my nipple(s) between her fingers and roughly pulling, rolling, twisting them rhymically to help her fall asleep. She gets hysterical if I prise them loose or deny her them or even just protect the end bit with my fingers (she hurts!).
Day naps I can handle but nights are getting out of control & is spoiling our co-sleeping & disturbing us all, especially her. We want to continue co-sleeping & baby-led weaning but I'm not a saint & this is doing my head in.
Any advice on how to 'wean' her off my nipple obsession but definitely not wean her BFing.
I've tried talking to her about it 'mummy doesn't like it' etc but this is useless in the middle if the night when she's barely awake & feeding. Her favourite new word is Booboobooboo & she asks for it at least every hour of her waking day for a sip or just comfort or a bigger feed.
My LO went through this stage. I had success using the pantley-pull off method (something like that) from no cry sleep solution. It took awhile but worked eventually. She would still wake for feeds, but was ok to come off when she was finished and roll over to sleep.
Can you also try playing with her fingers, or giving her something else to fiddle with?
I was very strict about feeding dd to almost asleep and then taking her off. If she wasn't settling I would put her back in and repeat ad nauseum until she learnt to roll over and sleep without a nipple in her mouth.
You could try introducing a toy or something else to twiddle. Introduce it during wakeful feeds to create the association. Something like a taggie blankie that has a silky or soft skin like sensation. My dd has a small bunny toy, it has soft silky fabric on on side of it's ears, and she strokes that as she goes to sleep.
My DD would fiddle with my mouth/lips and then she moved onto poking her finger into my belly button and touching my mole on my tummy. Which would occasionally get rough!
I would hold her hand and stroke it, taking it away when she did so. Or, I would let her keep touching me, but only if she was gentle. You can be firm/assertive and still give her the comfort of fiddling. Telling her she can only touch somewhere on Mummy (if not nipple, pick something else!) if she is gentle, otherwise she will hurt Mummy. It requires constant reinforcement though! My DD did this for years, but at least she understood the gentle thing relatively quickly. I'd use the dummy and redirect her touching, encouraging her to be gentle.
I've rediscovered Elizabeth Pantley, thanks Hotl, and there has been an improvement. DD is sick & had 12 month immunisations so I've been more relaxed about it all the last week. Still a long way to go though as she associates sleep with nipple, even though she doesn't need it in the carseat, carrier or pram. Also DD doesn't know the meaning of gentle, she's a strong one LOL. She just throws anything I put in her hand, its nipple or nothing. Oh well at least she is a determined child
Nipple obsession is doing my head in & hurts!
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