My plan to stop breastfeeding was when Christiana turned 1, well it didn't turn out that way. I knew weaning would be hard, but not this hard. After my plan to stop when she was 1, I did some online research and found that 18 months would be easier so that was my new plan. Right now Christiana is 18 months and boy oh boy it seems like she never wants to stop! I mean why should she want to stop? I'm basically her living pacifer and source of warm milk when she wants to go to sleep. So what's a mommy to do?
I will say that I don't nurse her as much during the night. There was a time when she would LITERALLY wake up every 2 hours to nurse AND this was after she turned 1! Now some nights there's about a 4-5 hour gap.
Here's her semi-bedtime routine:
- 7:30/8 bath
- 8/8:30 hair gets combed for the next day (gotta help daddy Teems out, he'll have her going to daycare with her hair all over the place)
- 9/9:30 nursing her to bed (she usually gets up a few times to hang out with daddy Teems)
I have tried putting her to bed without being nursed but she cries & pulls at my shirt. Daddy Teems has even tried putting her down, but she just cries for me (so that put an end to that). It's not a pretty site, she's pretty assertive when she wants something. For the most part I can deal with the crying, it's daddy Teems that can't deal with it. I know this process would be rough & tough, but Jeesh! I don't always give in, but it's hard.
Once she's down she's usually down like I said for at least 4 hours, then she wakes up for her living pacifier. My research says that by 18 months toddlers understand what "no" & "later" means so I tell her that the "ne-ne" is away or no "ne-ne" right now or come lay with mommy (with a pillow covering me up). Some nights this works while other nights she cries, sometimes for at least 30 minutes! You can imagine how tired I am for work the next day. Oh by the way this happens every night around 2am. She falls asleep either from crying or laying next to me. Then she wakes up again around 4:30/5; this is when I nurse her again so that she'll stay sleep for the next few hours AND so I can get my last few hours of sleep before I have to get ready for work. If she does happen to get up while I'm getting ready for work, I'll give her a little "ne-ne" to put her back down.
Again what's a mommy to do? I don't want to be like the lady on Time magazine and I want her to be able to fall asleep without the "ne-ne". I mean she does it everywhere else, why not with me? I'll keep writing/venting about my weaning-hood. Pointers? Can you relate?
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