Well Now, This is Interesting... (Weaning Update)
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Sunday, December 16, 2007
Things have been chugging along pretty smoothly for the last two weeks. Greg is still putting Emmitt to bed each night with zero problem (I'm getting to put Nora to bed for the first time in nearly a year, which is kinda fun) and Emmitt is still waking up once (sometimes twice) a night to nurse.Overall, it's progress. Easy progress I've been pretty happy about.
Last night, Greg put him to bed around 8:30. I was feeling pretty zonked, so I headed to bed at 10, read for half an hour and then went to sleep. Around 12:30, Emmitt woke up and started fussing. I gave him a few minutes, but he started to escalate.
So I came downstairs, went and got him, checked his diaper and nursed him for about ten minutes. He was still kind of fussy, but was done nursing, so I put him back in bed. I sat in the living room and listened for about 20 minute while he fussed on and off. Then he started full out wailing. I headed back in thinking maybe he wasn't quite done nursing.
When we sat down and I offered, he turned his head away. Then he pointed at the door and signed "milk", saying "numah numah numah." So, we went to the kitchen, got a sippy cup of whole milk and headed back to his room. We sat in his rocking chair and he happily slurped most of it down. I put him back in bed and left. That was at about 1am. He slept until 7:30 this morning.
Oh yeah, you read that right. My little boob addict got mad and pitched a fit last night until I DIDN'T nurse him and instead gave him cow's milk. Then he happily slept for 6.5 hours.
So, tonight when he wakes up, I'm going to offer the sippy cup first and see what happens. Again, I don't think it could possibly be this easy, but I can sure hope. If not, that's ok. I've still got more than two months to go before I need to have him weaned. That's plenty of time to ease our way into it.
Labels: Weaning
Have you thought about putting him to bed with a sippy cup of water? That just might end the need for you at night altogether!
Jonny and Gracie still go to bed with sippy cups. I figure, I take a glass of water with me to bed in case I get thirsty in the middle of the night... why shouldn't they have one?
Either way, sounds like you guys are getting REALLY close! Congrats!
That's an idea.
My mom said when my brother was young (about 18 months), she'd put a sippy cup and a couple of graham crackers on the chest of drawers next to his crib.
She said he'd wake up at 6am, would eat the crackers, drink the water and go back to sleep until 7:30am.
I tried that with Nora. She always has a sippy cup of water in bed with her.
She still gets up at 6:30 most days. :(
I'm going to give it a week or two of offering him a sippy in the middle of the night to see how that goes. If, by chance it works. I may try leaving him the sippy of water and see if that does it.
Congratulations on the progress you've made. I appreciate how you are describing the weaning process. Gentle weaning is not easy and there are not good examples for weaning toddlers gently, especially. E is lucky to be learning independence while still being comforted by you when necessary.
Yes it CAN be that easy.
EVERY child I know weaned this way: They simply grew out of it. At 12-18 months.
I didn't tell my children no- they told me no.
Stop feeling guilty- he is showing you he is ready.
So don't push, I say don't even offer. If he doesn't ask he doesn't need to nurse. Babies demand what they want and need.
Yay, so glad to hear this! I think there is a low-needs age a little before 18 months for many kids. I know my girls eased way back on nursing around that age. Sounds like you picked a great age to go through with mother-encouraged weaning :-)
I'll leave my usual warning about getting a sippy cup too close to the bed and rotting everyone in the house's teeth. ;) (It is the dental assistant in me, I can't help it. LOL) In all seriousness I'm sure you're well aware of the protocol involved. If not, lmk, ok?
I was checking back for an UPDATE, though!! I was thinking of you into the wee hours last night!
How did it go?
Kendra, I've never left a sippy or bottle of milk or juice or anything other than water with my kids in the crib.
Is a sippy of water an issue too?
As for last night, he woke at midnight again, nursed a bit, woke at 12:30 and took a sippy then slept until 7:30 again.
I tried offering the sippy at midnight but he was not interested. He was still pretty asleep then, just fussy, so I imagine he was looking for comfort.
I figure I'll start offering a sippy cup before offering to nurse each time now. Eventually, he may just switch.
It's worked in most other areas. :)
I think it can be that easy if he's ready for it. My SIL just didn't nurse my niece to sleep one night and that was it for them. She had weaned.
Just when we figure out what it is that our kids need, it changes, doesn't it? I am glad to see that it isn't just me living that reality.
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