I am late in making this update, but it is because we had some crazy nights last week.
During week three of weaning the human pacifier, (Can you believe it's only been three weeks? It seems soooo much longer.) we went from going to sleep really easily, to four nights of flat out, unmitigated refusal to sleep until I was ready to go to bed and essentially forced her to get in bed with me.
Last Tuesday, I found some really awesome YouTube videos by searching "lullaby." Annika loved them and she watched them until she was really sleepy, then passed out after nursing for only about three minutes. She slept for two and a half hours before waking up and crying out for me.
These are my two favorites videos.
Then Wednesday came along and she was like a wild woman. She would watch the videos, then nurse and just as her eyes would be fluttering closed, she'd pop off, roll over, stick her tiny little head up and grin while she rolled over me to hop off the bed and look at books.
This happened every night until Saturday. Then Sunday she nursed to sleep pretty easily. Last night was weird, she watched videos, then I was able to easily nurse her to sleep.
The weird part was not how she went to sleep, but how she slept. First of all, she slept for about three hours before waking up at all.
In the middle of the night, I awoke to find that she'd crawled off of the bed and fallen asleep on the floor. I debated bringing her back to bed because I didn't want to wake her. Ultimately, I decided in all good conscience I could not leave my baby sleeping on the floor. So after a few minutes of debate, I pulled her back into the bed. And she didn't wake up!
Then later in night/early morning, I awoke to find her sleeping half on the bed and half off. I did leave her there since she was technically still on the bed. When I got up at 7 a.m. I put her back on the bed where she stayed asleep for a few more minutes.
The only thing that's changed is her getting used to sleeping without a boob in her mouth. In a previous post I wrote that I heard somewhere that it takes six weeks to change a habit. But last week I heard from another source that it only takes three weeks. So, it's been three weeks. Is the habit changed?
THAT is still the million dollar question.... To be continued.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
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It doesn't really seem like mama has changed her habits so the process will probably take much longer. Why not have her in her own bed? I am not against babies/children in the bed but sometimes moms and dads want it more than the child. Since attachment parenting seems to be the goal here why not let her decide when she is done nursing? See ,this is also something that you want to end and she is clearly not ready. I have twins and one of them stopped nursing at 14 months and the other was not ready until 18 months. It is hard to know what to do when you are a parent but in the end a happy medium between parent and child seems to be best.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments, and it sounds like some you've got some good insights about parenting.
ReplyDeleteI am not trying to wean or even night wean, just trying to stop the habit of sleeping and suckling at the same time.
I tried before to get her to sleep in the bed without me, by putting another mattress next to the current bed and it did not work. She just woke up more and wanted me to come back in the bed with her. However, I am thinking about doing it again now that she's older.
To clarify though, my goal here is not to stop the nursing. The goal is to get her to sleep deeper and longer without my breast in her mouth. She still nurses during the day and plenty at night.
This will be a long process because I am opposed to letting her cry it out. Even if I was not, I truly do not think it would work with my daughter's personality.
It is getting better. Other than those few nights last week, I am able to get up again in the evenings while she sleeps.