16: Your Boob-Addicted Toddler And the Toddler Breastfeeding Stress Cycle

Start to Stop Toddler Breastfeeding

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Your toddler's boob addiction is actually a *GOOD* thing - AND there is a really good reason why it drives you nuts.
Your toddler is still waking frequently at night to breastfeed. You can’t leave them with anyone without an *epic* meltdown. You are embarrassed to take them to the park because of the amount of shirt-pulling that is likely to occur, and it seems everyone around you thinks you should have had this figured out already.
In our culture, all of those things are pretty “strange” for a toddler to be doing.
Because it’s strange, our brains immediately go to “bad”. Psychologically, we want to be like our peers. Practically, the standards we are used to measuring our child against (milestones, growth charts, etc.) are based on averages. “Kids that fall outside of the norm have something wrong with them” is an unconscious belief that is easy to develop.

Your toddler is addicted to your breast, and your only options are tough love or toughing it out. Or so you perceive....
But here is what your unconscious brain misses - it’s not your child with the problem. It’s the culture.

Now, I know that doesn’t seem to leave a lot of hope. You’re thinking: “I can’t change the culture, Jenna. Am I supposed to surrender to this chaos and hope that I survive until my child magically stops being a boob-monster?”

I promise you, there is an alternative to the “tough-love/toughing-it-out” conundrum.
You don’t have to force your child to do anything they aren’t ready for, *and* you don’t have to wait until they decide they are no longer going to scream “BOOB” as they dig their hands into your bra at your in-law’s thanksgiving table. (No? Just me?)
Despite what others around you might say, your child still being “addicted” to breastfeeding is a good thing.

(Catch the blog post that inspired this podcast episode here.)
Want to learn more from me?
Watch my free, instant access workshop:
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Grab your free guide to say "No" to the feed while still saying "yes" to the need at www.ownyourparentingstory.com/guide
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