Night Weaning Day 1
At Malone's 12 month (almost a full month late due to scheduling conflicts) appointment, the doctor suggested that he may be ready to night wean. She also said he may not be ready, but it was certainly okay to try. In other words, he should have the capacity to go a seven or eight hour stretch without nursing.
On a good night, our nursing schedule is 6:30 (bed time), 10:30, 2:30, and 4:00 (at which point he comes into bed with us). Tonight, I will take the first 10:30 (give or take) feeding and Mike will take over from there. Our hope is that Malone will be able to be soothed to sleep by Daddy or take a drink of water if he's thirsty but not need me.
Since they day he was born, I have been the primary nighttime parent because Mike works. Tonight, the tables turn. It's a strange feeling, to want your baby not to need you. I have to admit that I don't really dig it.
But on the other hand.... Sleep! Oh glorious sleep! To think that I could potentially get 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep- I'm giddy just thinking about the idea. It's been almost 13 months since I didn't have to get up in the night. And, if you count the zillion times I had to go to the bathroom my last few months of pregnancy, it's probably been close to 16.
I know we've got a challenge ahead of us tonight and in the next coming days. I plan to blog about how it's going, so stay tuned for that. The pediatrician said to give it a full week and see how it goes.
If it doesn't go well, I'm not sure I'll be able to last that long.
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Good luck! I can't remember when Alice was night-weaned but it was uneventful for us. At one point, around 10 or 11 months, she started waking up at midnight again, and without thinking about it, I just nursed her back to sleep every time until my sister pointed out that she would just keep getting up at midnight just to nurse. I did some C&C (Calm and Console) for 2 or 3 nights, and she stopped waking up at midnight. Until she was fully weaned, she woke up at 4:30 am to nurse, then went back to bed, either in her crib or with us in the bed.
ReplyDeleteDoes Malone have a lovey or a blankie? I bought one for Alice when she was 6 months old. I slept with it for a few nights before giving it to her so that it would smell like me. It helped a lot, I think.
<3
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