It's nearing 1 am here where we live and my son is screaming his head off. Well, he seems to quieting down, though it could be because there's a trash truck outside of our window.
Anyway, he's 20 months and I've reached the end of my nursing rope. It had gotten the point where my husband was sleeping in the other room while I spent the entire night nursing. And it was starting to really hurt my nipples. Somewhere along the lines, I got my son into some terrible sleep habits and it's impacting all of us. I can't even remember the last time I spent the night with my husband, not my son.
So, that's why I'm out here on a mattress in the living room and my husband is in the room with our little boy who is really upset and wondering why mama's not in the bed next to him like I always am. But for the sake of our marriage and my sanity, he needs to be in his own bed and weaned. We're trying this out for a week, but then we've got out of town guests coming in. Always with the guests. Phase two of our experiment is reintroducing him to his crib, with a plank removed so he doesn't feel so locked in.
Okay, he's going back to sleep now, which means I can sleep.
So far, we've gone the entire day without nursing (though we have been dramatically decreasing how much we nurse...apart from nighttime when he rules the roost!) and that of course leaves me with very mixed feelings. We have a lovely new routine, the only change being that daddy reads him his books and lies down with him to sleep.
Alright, he's sleeping. That was the first big hurdle. Twenty-five minutes of crying. Painful, painful, painful...and my tits hurt in a completely different way! If it's not chewed up nipples, it's something else, right?!
Please humor me if I add to this post later on. It's all I can do to stop myself from rushing in and nursing him back to sleep.
I loved nursing my little boy...I've loved cuddling with him all night. But he's growing up and I've got to start reclaiming some of my own needs, mainly a good night's sleep (not to mention a sex life).
If anyone else out there has night weaned a booby happy toddler, how did it go???
Anyway, he's 20 months and I've reached the end of my nursing rope. It had gotten the point where my husband was sleeping in the other room while I spent the entire night nursing. And it was starting to really hurt my nipples. Somewhere along the lines, I got my son into some terrible sleep habits and it's impacting all of us. I can't even remember the last time I spent the night with my husband, not my son.
So, that's why I'm out here on a mattress in the living room and my husband is in the room with our little boy who is really upset and wondering why mama's not in the bed next to him like I always am. But for the sake of our marriage and my sanity, he needs to be in his own bed and weaned. We're trying this out for a week, but then we've got out of town guests coming in. Always with the guests. Phase two of our experiment is reintroducing him to his crib, with a plank removed so he doesn't feel so locked in.
Okay, he's going back to sleep now, which means I can sleep.
So far, we've gone the entire day without nursing (though we have been dramatically decreasing how much we nurse...apart from nighttime when he rules the roost!) and that of course leaves me with very mixed feelings. We have a lovely new routine, the only change being that daddy reads him his books and lies down with him to sleep.
Alright, he's sleeping. That was the first big hurdle. Twenty-five minutes of crying. Painful, painful, painful...and my tits hurt in a completely different way! If it's not chewed up nipples, it's something else, right?!
Please humor me if I add to this post later on. It's all I can do to stop myself from rushing in and nursing him back to sleep.
I loved nursing my little boy...I've loved cuddling with him all night. But he's growing up and I've got to start reclaiming some of my own needs, mainly a good night's sleep (not to mention a sex life).
If anyone else out there has night weaned a booby happy toddler, how did it go???
and he was a bit more cuddly and clingy. but i just shower him with ten times more love now, and he seems to be adjusting really well for the first big change in his whole life!
hugs mama! I know it's rough right now, we are going through a similar situation at our house. Hang in there.
