Pam, I feel your frustration. I let him touch them to help him fall asleep When my second daughter was 2 ½ (she's 21 now. Where did the time go?!), I was pregnant with my next child and my nipples were so sore, I couldn't stand for her to nurse more than a minute or 2. She weaned at 2 ½, but would "hold it" for several months to go to sleep. She did eventually quit, though. Then when my son was the same age and I was pregnant with my last child, I tried that strategy again for the same reason-sore nipples. But, he would have none of that! I have always said that nursing "took the tiger out of his tank" (kinda the opposite of the Frosted Flakes commercial!). He would just become a little terror. You could always tell when he needed to nurse. It wasn't that he was asking and I was refusing, his behavior would just become aggressive. Then he'd sit down and nurse for just a minute or two, that's all it took, and he'd be a happy little boy again. I figured if it meant that much to him, I just couldn't take it away from him. He weaned at 3 when his baby sister was 3-4 months old. Still, I sympathize with the feelings of wanting him to just be around you without always wanting to nurse. My son is almost 18 years old and 6'1! He tells me he enjoys the looks and snickers of other kids when he tells them what I do! I had a good laugh at the post about the son who introduced his mother as a "boobologist". There are some healthy sexual attitudes among our young who have been raised this way! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Marsha Glass RN, BSN, IBCLC Mothers have as powerful an influence over the welfare of future generations as all other earthly causes combined. John S. C. Abbot ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html