Hello wise ones,
I'd appreciate some input about my own nursing situation:
My youngest is 4 (5 in November). She stopped nursing with any regularity about a year ago, but she still occasionally snuggles up and latches on for a few minutes for the comfort. That's fine, and I still treasure those quiet moments, but in the last month or so she's become OBSESSED with my breasts and nipples. She talks about them, she grabs them in public (something she never did before), she can't get close to me without pulling my shirt up and feeling around. And that isn't fine -- I find it so annoying that sometimes I snap at her and push her hands off me, and then, of course, I immediately regret rejecting her so harshly. But it happens so fast that it's almost instinctive; I feel like a mother dog pushing her pups away.
At about the same time she started doing this, she also started some odd handwashing behavior. Whenever she gets mad at me, my husband, or her two older sisters (which is pretty often these days!), and sometimes just out of the blue, she'll run to wash her hands. At least, it seems out of the blue to me, but I realize that something must be upsetting her. For instance, yesterday she was carrying her little rocking chair from one room to the other, and she suddenly dropped it with a cry bordering on anguish and ran to the bathroom to wash her hands. She doesn't wash them over and over, but it's still weird, and it's happening enough that her hands are getting red and chapped.
Because the two sets of behaviors appeared at about the same time, I'm wondering about their connection. Is she anxious about growing up, and thus sort of asking to be a nursing baby again? Should I actually try to get a supply back and encourage her to nurse, if that will comfort her, or would that be prolonging and possibly interfering with the natural growing-up process that children must go through? Any ideas on how to handle my irritation when she grabs me? (Hmmm, it just occurred to me that maybe I should buy some new, less breast-accessible clothes -- after eleven years of almost non-stop breastfeeding, most of my wardrobe has nursing slits.) At this point, I'm reluctant to ask other health professionals about the handwashing thing because I'm afraid they'd connect it in a negative way to extended breastfeeding.
I'd appreciate any input!
Thanks,
Jennifer Herrin, RN, IBCLC
Heidelberg, Germany
__________________________________________________________________
Switch to Netscape Internet Service.
As low as $9.95 a month -- Sign up today at http://isp.netscape.com/register
Netscape. Just the Net You Need.
New! Netscape Toolbar for Internet Explorer
Search from anywhere on the Web and block those annoying pop-ups.
Download now at http://channels.netscape.com/ns/search/install.jsp
***********************************************
To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
|
