Night 16 of night weaning a toddler, gently

We're over the "hump" and it has been a few nights since we've had issues with night nursing, but we still have the issue of my son avoiding sleep at a some-what decent hour. I'd love to be a radical unschooling family, but that just doesn't work for us.

If you're here for the first time, start at night one of gently night weaning a two year old.

I had hoped to see some friends after a week without my husband's help to hopefully unwind (after all, attached moms need MNO as well!). But it just didn't come to fruition. My husband was still sporting his residual illness so we headed out for chinese - he had soup and I had something with mango. Either way, we made it back home around 9 pm, and the stroller was gone (Yes, I'm anti stroller for newborns, but our au pair is great with night time walks for the kids) which meant our kids were with our au pair to probably go on what my son likes to call a 'train ride.'

She arrived back with TWO sleeping kids. YAY! My son was asleep at a decent hour!

We were able to get to bed early as well though my son took over my spot in the bed instead of his bed, and it was musical beds at 3 am, but night nursing didn't happen.

Could this be it? How long do we have to not night nurse to call it officially night weaned?

On to night 17.

Night weaning a 2 year old, nights 8-9

Night weaning my toddler continues. We are attempting to gently night wean him and at this point are past the Dr. Gordan's three night magic trick... If you are seeing this blog for the first time, you may want to start in night weaning, night one.


I bundled nights 8 and 9 together for a simple reason - both nights I was "out" at bed time (scrapbooking on night 8 and movies with the husband on night 9). Yes, attached parents can find the balance and have a sitter (we actually have live in care of an au pair) - recommended more when the bond has been established and with a trusted caregiver, but, yes it does happen.

Both nights included not nursing to sleep and daddy helping support our 2 year old through the night. Again, my husband commented that it was around 3 am when sleep could not longer sustain and up they were. Each night, my son tends to wake at around 3 am. I did hear him on night 9 and he wasn't calling to nurse, but crying for me.

Since my husband has to travel this week, I know that I'll be supporting him at night. 

Night weaning a 2 year old - one week in

Since our son wasn't sleeping better with me in room, we decided to go back to my husband taking care of our son at night. Night seven could be the charm in night weaning, right?

If you're new to these posts, please start at night one of night weaning.

Wrong. Again, he was up for around 90 minutes in the middle of the night. At first I came to the door to make sure my husband was up with him (I heard him across the house, calling out for mama... it can be heart breaking!).

This was another night of him not falling asleep at the breast, so I think we've ruled out not having dudh/nursing before bed as the culprit for night waking. At this point, I can say he definitely likes having mama nearby at night AND he can get back to bed without nursing, BUT he's not sleeping consistently at night. He is doing the medical definition of sleep through the night (6 hours), but he's waking at around 6 hours of sleep for my husband and up for a while before heading back to sleep.

Continue to nights 8 and 9 of night weaning a two year old.

Night five of gently night weaning a two year old

And the night weaning journey continues (read previous "episodes" here: 1, 2-3, 4)... at 25 months my son still enjoys nursing. When my daughter was this age she was mostly night weaned (but then un-night weaned, and then re-night weaned.... etc.) because I was heavily pregnant and could only handle her nursing a few times a day and for "one ABC" count down.

The cutie with no midnight "dudh."
Photo by Urban Life Photography.

Night five I slept mostly soundly. After having a lot of shooting pain in my breasts and warmth in my breast I was afraid I may be getting mastitis due to the drastic decrease in nursing, especially on my left side, so I needed to relax, drink some fluids and used plenty of garlic as a precaution. I'm still having shooting pains, but less often and no heat. If I feel it again tomorrow, I may need to figure out if I still have my Breast Pump (and hopefully have some new falanges! somewhere stored!).

Anyway, what I thought was an easy night for my husband, since I slept with the door shut, was not. We found our humidifier, (which luckily did NOT sell in our rummage sale) and purchased a new filter, hoping this would assist my son's night cough. Apparently he woke and was up for an hour and a half. So, after five nights we realize night weaning in this regard is not working. The point was to hopefully get ALL of us more sleep, not just me. So, tonight, I'll sleep in the same room as my son and comfort him to sleep.

More updates soon! Here's tonight going super smoothly :)

Updated to part 6.

Breastflow miPump Sing...$50.47 Sam's ClubBreastflow miPump Sing...$50.47 Sam's Club

Night weaning a two year old - part two and three

So we've made it a few more days and I failed to update you on how this attempt to night wean is going.

First, I'm a full believer in the benefits to both children and mom in extended breastfeeding. The data is there, no major medical group has an upper age recommendation on breastfeeding limitations, etc. It just IS. Babies are born with immature immune systems and breastfed kids have lower rates of catching the flu/cold, etc as well as major childhood illnesses such as cancer.

So, with that all said, a big EXHALE. My son is now two and I'm ready for a night's sleep. So, we are gently and as respectfully as we can, nightweaning our 25 month old. Night two went better than night one. Again, my husband was very involved in keeping my son consoled. He's had a cough since we went to a cabin almost 4 weeks ago and it is waking him at night. When he wakes at night from coughing we're using some homeopathic medicine that includes some elderberry (read this NIH article, it works!) so it helps him, but in that waking moment he really wants mama and mama has milk. So while I'm in my daughter's room, my husband is taking care of our son, gently and lovingly. It has involved reminding him who is sleeping.

And just to remind you, my son is a comedian. The first time I told him that "it is night time, everyone's sleeping..." he stopped me dead in my tracks and said "munny mow (what he calls our cat, marathi for kitty basically) not sleeping" - yep. he got me: Cat's don't sleep at night. But you can't really go into what nocturnal means to a 2 year old in the middle of the night, can you?!

My husband also takes him outside for calm and less stuffy air. There's just no humidity here and with the AC blowing in it is even drier and he has that night time cough going on.

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Sleeping like a baby again? I hope!

Night three I believe I slept for possibly 5 hours straight. I don't remember the last time that happened. My husband indicated my son did wake up but I didn't hear them so my son is transitioning to falling to sleep more without nursing. However, the cough was still the thing waking him.

Read about night 4

Giveaway and Review: Copy-Kids Eat your Fruits and Vegetables

Peer pressure works. We know this, the wonderful people behind Copy-Kids eat fruits and veggies have come up with a "duh why didn't I think of that" concept - kids watching kids eat veggies... cause kids to eat veggies.

I will first disclose that YES, my kids do eat veggies. But, my almost 2 year old has become more picky each day and is full of the word, "no." When I opened up the movie and saw that it was basically 12 sessions (each 7 minutes) of watching kids eat various veggies, I thought there was no way my 4 year old would last - after all, she had just requested to watch a different show. However, once I put it on, both of my kids watched the show... AND ate vegetables. Without saying anything, I put a bowl of raw carrots and broccoli in a bowl. The first session was kids eating peppers. My daughter was eating broccoli. I found a bell pepper, sliced it up, put it in the bowl... both kids went for the pepper. Soon I had to bring out another bowl for more veggies. By the second chapter, my 4 year old was fully engrossed, asking questions about the kids (mostly how old they were), and requesting various fruits and veggies to watch (and then eat). My son was also interested and ate more than his share of snack!

I'd say this was a hit. Subliminal messaging for a non-veggie eater or just fun alternative to cartoons if mom needs a few minutes to say... wipe up a mess or fold some laundry... No guilt in this, right!

Eat your: Apples – Avocado – Banana – Bell Pepper – Blueberries – Broccoli – Carrots – Cucumber – Orange – Raspberries – Strawberries – Tomato

After the kids watched 10 out of the 12, I went to the extras and was happy to see an interview with Dr. Jay Gordon, confirming what we know - kids need veggies to grow strong and not only do WE need to be role models, but we also need to start it young and be consistent.

See a trailer here and know that if you don't win the giveaway below... You can order your own with confidence!

Awards:

Dr. Toy: http://www.drtoy.com/product-view/?productid=119

MACT: http://www.award-winning-healthy-child-products.com/2012/03/19/copy-kids-wins-the-prestigious-mact-excellence-award/



Disclosure Statement: The views here are my own. While I was given a free copy of the DVD to review and one to use as a giveaway, it in no way influenced my opinion or views posted here.

my first (wordless wednesday)

(okay some words, this is our daughter, just younger than our son's current age, experimenting with food)