Presenting Arizona Breastfeeding Bag Project and Holiday event

The AZ Breastfeeding Bag Projects hands out true breastfeeding bags to mothers who want to breastfeed.

According to one of the group's organiziers, "This is an alternative to the formula bags that many moms will recieve at the doctors offices and at the hospital. It has been shown that when a mom has the support and resources that she needs she will continue to breastfeed."

These bags are available through midwives offices and upon request. The bag contains a few sample items such as nipple cream, nursing pads, milk storage bag, and lactation tea. It also contains on where to turn for information, including support groups.

In November the group is having a Boutique event that is working as a fundrasier. The hope is that the event that will bring together vendors and breastfeeding moms - pregnant moms and the community is welcome to attend as well!

They have the event set up on facebook here.

Join them on November 3rd at 1600 W Main Street, Mesa, AZ

• • Saturday, November 3, 2012
  • 8:00am until 12:00pm

• 1600 W Main St Mesa

Are you a vendor looking for an event to promote your product? 

Vendors will pay a fee for their spot which goes directly toward the cost of the bag project. There is no "percentage" taken from your sales, that is for you to keep. According to the Arizona Breastfeeding Bag Project says, "I guess this is kind of like a community service project to help mom businesses. During this time as will we will be handing out breastfeeding bags to anyone who wants them." Join the event above on facebook and message an administrator or email them at AZBFBP@gmail.com

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For more information on the Arizona Breastfeeding Bag Project visit their website at http://azbreastfeedingbagproject.org, "like" them on facebook or email them at AZBFBP@gmail.com

Breastfeeding gains ground in Canada, but what is this article saying?

I came across an article about breastfeeding in Canada. The headline caught my attention, so I started reading it. The headline read, "Breastfeeding in Canada is gaining ground"

Great, right?

Well check out this little tidbit, under the heading, "Health Canada's recommendations on Breastfeeding"

It may just be semantics  but why the heck does the positive wording change when babies get above six months old? I mean they say that breast milk is optimal for growth. While breastmilk changes, it changes WITH baby, so keep breastfeeding! It SHOULD be the main source of nutrients and calories through the first year of life! So, if Health Canada believes in Breastmilk, like they should, why not say "Continue to breastfeed until at least one year, two years or more if possible. If it is not possible, consider donor milk banks or donor milk. If that is not possible, give baby (formula) until 9 to 12 months of age, etc...

Health-wise, financially and ease indicates breastfeeding can works - we not only need support from mom-to-mom peer groups, our friends and family, but also from health groups, such as Health Canada, WHO and AAP.

See the original story at: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/touch/story.html?id=7094859&rel=7374794

Still time to help save 8400 babies in the Phillippines

For those interested, there's a petition (worldwide) to help prevent predatory and misleading advertisements to Phillipinos - right now at http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Protect_mothers_and_babies_in_the_Philippines_from_the_baby_food_industry/

The "babyfood" industry wants to amend the Philippines' own rules and regulations. This may cause their country to have BFing rates similar to Thailand, which stand at ~2% of babies being breastfed at 6 months and only 15% of ALL babies getting breastmilk under 6 months.  Marketing and manipulation works. Companies know this! Poverty and lack of fresh water are real concerns - breastmilk is not only perfect for babies, but formula is EXPENSIVE and requires clean water.

You can also read more about it on a previous post here 

Lip ties, clipping, surgery and head bonks

As I wrote earlier this summer, our children both have lip ties, aka maxillary labial frenulum.

Well in July, after my husband and I actually discussed possibly having our 4 year old's clipped (due to potentially causing issues with her big teeth coming in apart and she already having decay/bacteria issues with her milk teeth), we found out it wouldn't be necessary.

After a fun morning of jumping on the bed (what's the children's song?), my son's knee hit my daughter's face and instant surgery.

She no longer has a lip tie. It hurt like any "bonk" would and there was a little bit of blood, but now, some weeks later, she's fine and it did not reconnect.

Here's her at 6 months, early teeth and visual of the early lip tie.

[IMG]http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f106/vivekasphotos/2012-07-25_110919.jpg[/IMG]

And here's her "broken" lip tie.

I wonder if this attributed to some of our early latch issues, but I'll never know. Likely it did, but in the end, well, we're not yet at "that" end...

Solids Starved baby - Waiting until 6 months at least for solids

Here is something I wrote back when our now 4 (and a half) year old was 4 months old.

Smily 4 month old, starved of early introduction of solids

It seems as though the idea of "getting older, younger" is more common. We want our kids to grow up, but at the same time we miss their newborn stage. V is almost 4 months old and so I am now getting two questions quite often: are you still breastfeeding? (why yes I am and no, I don't plan to wean her soon, probably not until she wants to, hopefully after age 2) and have you given her rice cereal yet? (no, and we plan to delay solids for quite a while.)

There are two main reasons: developmentally, a child doesn't needs solids as a baby, and in fact it may be harmful, and it may help prevent some food allergies. My nephew is allergic to dairy and eggs - he's suffered many illnesses and he was just diagnosed in the past few months. We must wonder whether or not some of the illnesses, colds, surgeries(!!) could have been prevented had the allergies been found earlier. I don't want to judge but also had he been delayed solids or breastfed. Anyway,

This question on when to introduce solids came up on one of the message boards I am on. Here was my response (slightly changed for clarity and this venue):

In regard to introducing solids to your not yet 4 month old, my opinion is that unless the baby isn't thriving or gaining weight then it is best to delay. Babies are born with an immature gastrointestinal track. I've seen research that indicates that most babies, even at 6 months, do not have a fully developed track, so instroducing more foods doesn't seem like it would be best. I would assume that since formula is hard to digest for an immature intestine, it would be even more havocful for the intestine.

The gastrointestinal system of a newborn baby is not yet mature. It is still permeable, allowing bacteria, viruses and toxins to pass through. This intestinal permeability decreases more slowly in formula-fed babies. According to Dr. Jack Newman "...certain hormones in milk (such as cortisol) and smaller proteins (including epidermal growth factor, nerve growth factor, insulin-like growth factor and somatomedin C) act to close up the leaky mucosal lining of the newborn, making it relatively impermeable to unwanted pathogens and other potentially harmful agents. Indeed, animal studies have demonstrated that postnatal development of the intestine occurs faster in animals fed their mother's milk. And animals that also receive colostrum, containing the highest concentrations of epidermal growth factor, mature even more rapidly."

According to Dr. William Sears, MD, cow's milk should not be given as a beverage to infants under one year of age. "Cow's milk can irritate the lining of your infant's intestines, causing tiny losses of iron. This can contribute to iron-deficiency anemia."

Also, there is some indication that delaying solids until at least 6 months can help ward off/prevent some food allergies. "The WHO, Unicef, the US Department of Health & Human Services, the AAP, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Dietetic Association, the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, and Canada all recommend that babies not be given solids until they are six months of age. As Dr. Jim Sears said on the Dr. Phil show, ""The American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends that no foods are given before 6 months. And that's very, very important. Many of the books out there still say the old recommendations 4 to 6 months. Now it's nothing before 6 months." Those old numbers are outdated; six months is the new guideline."

I know some people who put rice cereal in formula bottles at or before 3 months -- I'm sorry but I really couldn't support this. If your baby really isn't thriving at this point, and isn't under the direct care of a doctor, I'd have to say that there's probably something more that needs to be looked in to. I am no doctor, but I haven't seen any research which indicates that a baby that young needs the more calories. Of course, if you're doing it so your child will sleep longer, perhaps you need to reconsider why you had that baby...  We'll leave that for another topic... on another day, when I'm not so tired :)

Resources

• Catassi et al "Intestinal permeability changes coloring the first month; effect of natural versus artificial feeding." J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr 1995; 21: 383-386
• Newman, J, MD, FRCPC "How Breast milk Protects Newborns" http://www.promom.org/bf_info/sci_am.htm 
• Sears, W. & Sears, M (2003) The Baby Book - Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby From Birth to Age Two, RN, Little, Brown &  Co.
• Shulman et al "Early feeding, feeding tolerance and lactase activity in preterm infants." J Pediatr 1998; 133:645-649

Now over 4 years later, I know more, I've experienced more but I still believe in no early introduction of solids for young infants. Breast milk is perfect for growing babies. The calcium is more readily absorbed than that of cow's milk or formula, which is why BF baby poop is sooo much easier to deal with than a formula-fed baby or a baby who has had solids introduced! If you don't believe me, just smell the different diapers!  Research also shows that adding rice cereal to a bottle does not "coat" the stomach and in general babies do not sleep better/longer. I've also read comments of moms adding MORE cereal because baby is crying more and much want more of it... Maybe they're stomach is uncomfortable from the "food"?  

Breastfeeding and Boy Scouts? Don't be a den leader

Courtesy Attachment Parenting UK

So I have not verified this, personally, but if true, this is quite the ignoramous of the year. According to the Unlatched blog, a "Boy Scouts committee chair voted off for breastfeeding son – Alliance, Ohio."
 

Breastfeeding HAS to become normal sot hat these things do not happen. So please, if you breastfeed. Do it in public. Really. For the sake of the next generation, give them a chance, give them a choice. Until no one bats an eye, women will be pressured due to social reasons to change over before they want to. It isn't saying that a woman can't choose to NOT breastfeed or to bottle feed, but it means that women who otherwise would breastfeed do not because they are uncomfortable. THAT is wrong. 

World Breastfeeding Week is Over, but Awareness is Not!

One of the easiest ways to keep awareness of breastfeeding as the first option is to actually just breastfeed. While activism often is seen as getting out there and campaigning, real grass roots efforts is to just do, be and support! Fewer people would get dirty looks when they latch on if it was more common, right?

I participated as one of three moms in a Latch On event back home in Michigan for World Breastfeeding Week - small turnout is fine, as ANY turnout is better than none!

Now it is time to start planning the Quintessence Foundation's annual Breastfeeding Challenge. I can't believe I'll be at my 4th one this year, first time organizing, but excited just the same to see mamas out there doing what's right and natural!

This year's World Breastfeeding Challenge is set for 11 am local time September 29th.

If you'd like to assist in our North Valley location, please contact me.

If there isn't a site located near you, please consider organizing your own! You can also visit last year's results to see if last year's coordinator has begun planning yet. Most organizers love the extra hands!

Supporting women in breastfeeding

I was not breastfed... at all. Whether I turned out okay is questionable.  :)

One thing I hate to hear is "I wasn't breastfed and I'm fine." Here's the thing, one point of data (you, me, or even US) is not significant in the realm of it all. The fact is we know what we do about the drawbacks of a baby not getting breast milk.

Breastfeeding is best for pretty much ALL babies and for mom's health. Of course a happy parent is a better parent for the most part (but of course you can be happy and spend no time with your kid too!), that's where balance comes in.

But, it seems, most of what I hear from people who didn't want to even TRY to breastfeed relates to some sort of fear. Fear of cracked nipples (had it at first with my daughter, got some lanolin and was set!), or baby being attached to them (come on, they were attached INSIDE you for the past 9ish months... so a few more months? ENJOY IT!)...

Breast milk  requires no midnight runs to the store, no bottles to sterilize and always at the right temperature (of course moms who use donor milk, are awesome too! And those who pump for other babies... YOU ROCK!) :)

For moms who want to breastfeed, they need support! I truly believe that the more awareness out there, the more success moms will have. If a mom is having difficulties with any sort of parenting, and if they want to vent, someone is always there to say then "well then don't do it!" - For breastfeeding let's change that!

When a mom is struggling, let's SUPPER her and say... "let's see what we can do to help", for whatever it is! Nursing, co-sleeping, the right stroller even!

And partners... you can support a breastfeeding mom by getting her water, a pillow or nursing wedge... and saying "you can do this and I support you" - find her a lactation consultant or friends whose wives nursed... Find her support... You will want to bond with baby too, we know! More on how partners can support in breastfeeding, tomorrow :)

WBW World Breastfeeding Week Facts

Breast is the best choice, most women know that but with huge marketing departments and budgets, formula companies would love for women to NOT know that. In many countries, they are able to legally tell moms otherwise too!

But, the fact is:

Among women who prenatally intended to exclusively breastfeed, more than 85% intended to do so for 3 months or more; however, only 32.4% of mothers achieved their intended exclusive breastfeeding duration.

–Pediatrics

This is mom's own goals, not some goal by the government or medical association or "crazy" extended breastfeeders like myself.

6 month of only breastfeeding is recommended by major medical societies. One year minimum of any breastfeeding is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and two years is recommended by the World Health Organization. No upper limit is listed by any medical society or La Leche League.

Nursing moms: The best thing YOU can do is breastfeed and help pregnant moms and new moms while they are struggling early on. It isn't easy, and with freebies coming left and right, more moms are bombarded and easily discouraged. While 1-2 percent of women have medical reasons for it not working, most women are not in that category and instead need support and a smile :)

Pregnant women: Get support! Find breastfeeding friendly doctors and pediatricians. Find a Baby Friendly hospital. Know it will likely be tough for the first few weeks! Find a breastfeeding support group like La Leche League. Know your life will change :) Know that a baby's stomach is the size of a marble at birth... so your colostrum is enough!

Welcome to World Breastfeeding Week 2012

World Breastfeeding Week is here!

For something natural and perfect for baby, why do we need World Breastfeeding Week? To me, we need it for awareness, acceptance and celebration.

Officially this year's event, the 20th annual, is "Celebrating 10 years of WHO/UNICEF's Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding."

The Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative is part of WHO and UNICEF because moms not only need support in breastfeeding, but they also do not need undue marketing.

According to WorldBreastfeedingWeek.org, This year, we need to

"1. To recall what has happened in the past 20 years on infant and young child feeding (IYCF).

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2. To celebrate successes and achievements nationally, regionally and globally and showcase national work at global level.

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3. To assess the status of implementation of the Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding (GS).

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4. To call for action to bridge the remaining gaps in policy and programmes on breastfeeding and IYCF.

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5. To draw public attention on the state of policy and programmes on breastfeeding and IYCF.

You can be part of something bigger - find a "Big Latch On" even near you. There are three in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and two in Phoenix and events in the San Diego area (my three largest following areas). Find an event near you at BigLatchOn.org this week!

International Baby Food Action Network has ideas for action as well - the potential risks of not breastfeeding is extremely evident in the poor and those who do not have access to clean water, but the risks are also there for ALL babies. All babies should have the right to breastmilk, and young children, as indicated by the groups should also be made aware. Know the rules and "recommendations made by WHO and UNICEF and consider how the companies are stretching the rules or flat out ignoring them!

But, individually, one of the easiest things to do support breastfeeding is to breastfeed normally, because it is normal. Acceptance and support is key!

Nurse in in Napa July 16, 10 am

Passing this along for moms who are interested in seeing breastfeeding become normal and NO baby should be refused basic nourishment in a location they are legally allowed to be present.

California Right to Breastfeed in Public (1997)
Section 43.3 of the Civil Code

"Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a mother may breastfeed her child in any location, public or private, except the private home or residence of another, where the mother and the child are otherwise authorized to be present."

Attention Napa, CA area moms:

After an incident at the Social Security Office in Napa, on Soscol Ave. in which a woman was asked to leave b/c she was discreetly breastfeeding her small child, we are planning a NURSE-IN!

The woman was told she needed to leave because it was against the law to breastfeed in a federal building.

The Nurse-In is planned to help bring correct information and attention to breastfeeding in public.

The Napa Valley Register says they are very interested in covering this story and we would like to get as many nursing mamas to join us.


JULY 16, 2012
10AM
Social Security Office
1850 SOSCOL AVE
SUITE 102
NAPA, CA 94559

Mom's Nursing Nook at Children's Museum of Phoenix

Enjoying CMOP at almost a year old. How time flies!

It is hot, sticky and playing inside may just be getting too much for you... Consider the Children's Museum of Phoenix! My kids LOVE CMOP Three floors to learn, explore and enjoy... and I will tell you've I've nursed my kids on each of them.

The Children's Museum is a very breastfeeding friendly location. Some moms want more privacy, or have a child who is easily distracted and so a quiet spot may be necessary to get a nursing session in.

A solution to needing a quiet spot to nurse at the Children's Museum is in order! CMOP wants to create Nursing "snug" spots and needs your help (Click the link to learn more.)

According to Marion Wiener, Director of Marketing and Communications for CMOP, said via email to AttachedMoms.com:

All women should breastfeed if they are willing and able. It is undoubtedly probably one of the top 5 best things you can do for your child! After loving, nurturing, caring and loving them some more! Plus, women should all have a private, comfortable space to breastfeed when they are in public spaces. And it would be the Museum’s honor to be able to provide that for our breastfeeding visitors. 

Even if you can't donate to this cause, consider passing along the information to others. Awareness and acceptance of breastfeeding helps us all.

Darn Nestle! They're taking after Enfamil - Getting mamas to do their work

Please mommy bloggers, especially if you breastfeed, stop allowing these big companies to use YOU as their way to get more moms to stop breastfeeding.

Earlier in June reports came out that indicated most women don't meet their OWN breastfeeding goals. This isn't my goal for them. This isn't the government's goal for them. This is THEIR goals. So STOP helping Nestle (AKA Gerber) and Enfamil promote their products. This promotion type (direct to moms) is against the World Health Organization's code on marketing of breastmilk substitutes.

One stat said,
"More than 85% of new moms said they intended to breastfeed for three months or longer, but just 32.4% met their mark."


Many have stopped before they left the hospital. Formula companies are in almost all hospitals in the US, leaving samples to moms before they can even see a lactation consultant.

I posted earlier about Enfamil... but now I see people are doing the same for Gerber (which is really Nestle').

Yes, I will continue to stop following any mom blog who shows up with one of these promos in my news feed.

Again, MOMs have goals and these posts do not help them get there. 

Parent directed feeding versus demand feeding

When a newborn baby cries, it is their way to communicate with you, their care giver. It is not to annoy you. It is not because they want to manipulate you. It is because they are looking for your attention... for a reason. If you aren't ready to "deal" with that, you may not be ready for a baby.

There are various parenting theories out there, not one will be perfect for all families, but some can be damaging to babies and families. An over indulgent parent who cannot set boundaries is harmful, just as a parent who chooses not to be a 24 hour parent is harmful.



An over indulgent parent isn't the same as an attached parent. An attached parent is one who will consider all members in the family, not just a child's requests when making decisions.

A parent who fails to see that their life will change when they have kids will likely damage their child from the infant stage.

Here's the fact: babies are needy. They NEED you. A sleep trainer you pay $25 an hour to come and "solve" the issues isn't solving the issue. Instead, it is likely that you need someone to come in, give you a bit of a razzle wake up call and let you know that you're a parent now and your life has changed.

The changes of parenthood are only negative if you have the attitude that your life shouldn't change when baby comes. Embrace the changes and gift of this new life. There are ways to make parenting easier, and to me, that means attachment parenting. It is a lot easier to respond, be there, and relax with baby. Of course a baby's night waking will annoy you if you have to run across the house, warm a bottle and/or hear them scream. But if you follow instincts, room share (co-sleep if it works for you) and breastfeed, night waking isn't half as bad. PLUS, many of the biggest smiles are at those 3 am feeds :)

I say this in the midst of night weaning... but it is my two year old who knows the difference between night and day eats regular people food. He's not an infant whose stomach is only accepting the most basic of (high calorie) nourishment that happens to process through the body quickly.

I found this article interesting in the Journal of Perinatal Education that compared Babywise and Attachment Parenting.

These two extremely laughable but highly DANGEROUS points come from Babywise and Parent Directed Feeding:

• Your baby's routine is to serve you; you are not to serve your baby's routine (p. 132).
• You can hurt a baby by picking him or her up too much (p. 128).

Of course Babywise also doesn't recommend rocking a baby to sleep or co-sleeping. In fact those are also seen as harmful in their eyes. So, if being detached teaches your child that you won't respond to their needs... I wonder how things turn out later when their needs change into desires? Where's the trust? Also, don't forget, parent directed feeding and Babywise are specifically listed by the American Academy of Pediatrics as harmful and potentially deadly, due to the possibility of failure to thrive AND dehydration.

I don't see anything regarding that on attachment parenting. 

Night weaning - 17 days in for gently toddler night weaning

Night weaning a two year old? How hard can it be? If you're new here, start at night number one of night weaning, gently.

It was a decision we teetered on for a while before we determined that yes, it was time to finally night wean our newly minted two year old. I'm a working mom, attached as I can be, with a bit of a yell that I'm trying to lose... but we do the best we can with what we have at the time, right? I know that a bit more sleep will help us both, but we're still struggling to get my son to bed at a decent time (ie, before 10) on a consistent basis.

Night 17 was Father's Day. We had let Daddy sleep in this morning, though sleeping in for a 2 year old seems to be 6:30 am! Since we had plans for music at the Railroad Park in the evening (which ends at 9 pm), we'd assumed our son would fall asleep on the way home, and from there we could transition him into the toddler bed and he'd sleep there until morning. We all dream right? Well, it worked mostly well, so it was a good thing we brought along our tooth brushes. Kids were asleep on the drive home, our toddler slept in his bed (in our room), our 4 year old slept in her room. I slept in our room and life was good.

Until 3 am when my son woke up. I'm starting to see a pattern, aren't you?

What I'm also seeing is that my son is generally having to go bathroom at the same time. We're in the dry desert - I drink water at night, so I know he's thirsty too, so cutting bedtime nursing makes him thirsty and I refuse to cut water before bed time...

So let's see what we can do. The big thing is, my son woke this night and wanted to go outside - apparently he was remembering early night weaning days. I'm not ready for that! Eek! Anyway, he was able to get back to bed without nursing, though he did ask. However, he was satisfied with some water and was able to snuggle and head back to bed. My daughter also woke up, but she woke up due to cold. It is hot in the desert and to save on energy we tend to keep the house cooler in the early morning so that the AC doesn't run all day long. However, cool to us is approximately 78* - yeah not that cool, but it works for us and it keeps our electric bill low. With solar, we just pay "billing" each month through the summer, so we can't complain, right :)

Anyway, we're working on what will work best for our family through this time. Hopefully we can figure it out!

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.

Uh oh - Night 14 of Gently Night Weaning a 2 year old

We had one night left remaining until my husband would be home and we'd go back to something closer to normalcy. The kids miss daddy and I definitely notice the difference in them while he's gone. Plus, having a partner makes a huge difference! (start at night one if this is your first visit)

As I wrote earlier, my son hasn't been going to sleep very early and I'm exhausted. I hadn't yet put dinner away and got  lucky and our au pair came home and wanted to take a walk. She decided to take my son along - it was around 10 pm. That walk enabled me to put dinner away (and drop a huge package of Smart Balance buttery spread all over), and he fell asleep! WOO!

The sleeping boy - he's been fighting off naps too :) Love his You Tell 'Em shirt. Fitting for his cause :)

After some issues with our cat tonight (being especially nippy and really putting her claws into our furniture), I was really up for being able to relax. I had a few things to get done, including refilling the humidifier, but finally went off to sleep myself. Well that lasted until around 3:30 when suddenly he woke coughing. Tired as I was... I nursed him. UGHHHHH. I made the decision when I realized it to unlatch him. He was NOT happy with that. I tried to gently (and extremely exhausted-ly) remind him that we all needed sleep. After around 5 minutes of patting and cuddling, he went back to sleep. I slipped out of bed to use the restroom and he woke screaming again. The cycle lasted probably another 30 minutes....

Note to self, wear duct tape during the night weaning process. 

Luckily my husband is back and he can help out again... lest I forget we're night weaning!

On to Night fifteen.

Night 12 and 13 of Night weaning a 2 year old, gently

So we're still without parental back up on the night weaning cause (see post one on the topic here). We get most of our night weaning "support" from Dr. Jay Gordon, who indicates daddy (or partner) has to be the person who helps the nursing mama get through this time. Well we had that at first, but the 2 year old is still waking and we don't plan to give up the cause just because life means daddy has to travel.

The fact remains that we're trying to gently night wean our toddler without changing up the family bed dynamics. We do have a toddler bed in the master bedroom and our 4 year old decides on a nightly basis where she's sleeping (generally in her own room)... but we don't want the 2 year old to wake up the 4 year old for obvious reasons.

On night 12, I had both kids in the master bedroom because we were all slightly under the weather. Tylenol and some homeopathic for me, the kids had some Cina for cough and restlessness for the kids as well as a dose of rescue remedy for my daughter who was having some knee pain.

Night 13... my 4 year old fell asleep before 9 pm... but the other kiddo... well... he was wide awake still at 11 pm! I almost took out a video camera for everyone to witness his cuteness. I was too tired though! He kept telling me all the people/things/items in nature who were sleeping... meanwhile not sleeping himself!

At one point, I told him, "buggu, mama is SOOOO sleepy, let's go night-night." HE looked at me, kissed my cheek and said, "ok" - but no luck, he was up for another half hour after that :)

On to night 14!

Night 10 of nightweaning, and the cold sets in

Night weaning when your kiddo has a cold is not fun. Small colds is why my daughter, who was originally night weaned during my pregnancy at around 23 months... still night nursed when she turned 4 earlier this year.

If this is your first time hitting this blog, start at night weaning, night one.

So, when my son's cold got worse with a bit of fever, I immediately thought, "OH CRAP, We'll have to do all THIS again!" Why even night wean if it'll just be cyclical? So my husband determined that I'd be with my son and we'll (um, I'll) need to nurse him AND the next day he'd be leaving on a business trip so RE-night weaning would have to wait past the cold.

Ugh.

This is not the reason we night wean. We do not night wean to redo it. We need consistency!

My son nursed to sleep. I cuddled with him, he held tightly to my shirt wrapped his leg around me and wouldn't let me go.

But...

he did not want to nurse!

Can you imagine? He woke a few times to veirfy I was still next to him, but did NOT ask to nurse!

WOOOHOOO! Could this be night weaning success?


On to night eleven of night weaning a toddler.

Night weaning continues - night 6

As chronicled earlier (start here for night 1), we are attempting to night wean our two year old. Night weaning is tough, even for a two year old. I don't believe in Ferber or sleep training, but I do believe that sleep is important.

In nights 1-5 I slept outside of the room my son was sleeping in (we're a room-sharing family), but since he wasn't past the area of needing mama, I decided I'd try being in room with him, co-sleeping.

My son fell asleep around 9:30, not entirely by nursing. We figured it may assist if he doesn't have the smell of milk on him at sleep (some of my friends swear by this). However, he woke first around midnight. I patted him to sleep and he was back down within a few minutes. He kept near me and kept reaching out to me, hugging and squeezing me and wanting to make sure he had contact with part of me through the night. He woke a few times through the night, each time going to sleep without nursing.

However, I'm not sure if he got more sleep than with my husband or not. He didn't fully wake at all, and didn't cry out too much, but he was restless.

Continue to part 7. One week in on night weaning.