One suggestion I would have is a good talk with the 7 year old. Perhaps
something along the lines of "You're nursing again. How does that feel? I
wonder sometimes if you are nursing again to see what it is like to be
younger again. Do you think so? I remember when you were X and you decided
not to nurse anymore. You were so sure you were done. But now you feel like
you've changed your mind. When you want to nurse, and then you nurse, how do
you feel afterwards? Whatever made you want to nurse - is it gone? Or is it
still there and you realized that nursing didn't fix it?"

If the desire driving the need to nurse is gone after nursing, then perhaps
nursing is what this boy needs. If the need is still there, then nursing
isn't fixing anything. She could even watch for an opportunity when the boy
is sad and wants to nurse as a result. If he is still unhappy afterwards,
she could point that out to him. She could even state something like "I'm
not sure nursing is what you need anymore. I wonder if you would like me to
really focus on you and read a book or just listen to you talk to me."

What I wouldn't suggest is to compare him to the baby. However, some
discussion around the arrival of his sibling and his feelings about that
might be helpful. Even something like "I would think that sometimes you
really love/enjoy your new (brother/sister) and sometimes you just wish
(he/she) would go back in my stomach and things could be normal again."

Depending on the child and if they are homeschooling, they could do an
investigation on primate nursing and perhaps that would make things more
technical and less yummy.

Just ideas...
Rachael Barlow

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