10/30 Semi Fail.

Malone made it clear to us last night that he is not ready to begin night weaning. I had a sneaking suspicion, and I was right. I should have listened to my mommy instinct instead of pushing forward because today I am beyond tired.

I nursed Malone around 10:15 and he went back to sleep just fine. He was up again around midnight. I tapped Mike to let him know (he is so used to sleeping through the monitor). Malone did not scream his brains out, but Mike could not get him back to sleep. He tried all of his tricks, singing, rocking, patting, etc. After about 25 minutes, I came in and rescued them both.

Here is where the night went down hill for me. Because Mike wasn't able to get Malone to sleep, Malone was WIDE AWAKE and ready to party. So, we were all three wide awake in the middle of the night instead of just Malone and I being semi awake for 5 minutes before falling back asleep.

I could not get him settled and it literally took me three hours to get Malone to sleep "for the night" again. The following was repeated three times, nursing until drowsy but awake, putting Malone in the crib and patting his back, heading back to bed, staring at the ceiling worrying about stupid stuff (like the merits of aqua vs teal in polo shirts for little boys), and nodding off only to not make it to full sleep because Malone woke up again.

I finally ended up bringing him into bed with us around 3:30. He slept (and nursed) until almost seven.

I'm tired today for sure, but hanging in there. We would have been better off just sticking with our usual routine last night.

This morning I was poking around in his mouth and discovered that either his top molars or eye teeth are coming in. That certainly explains why last night was not successful. However, I hesitate to call last night a complete fail. There were times when I was able to get Malone back to sleep without nursing and that is new for us.

Mike and I talked about it today and have decided to try again in a few weeks. It's difficult because Malone is a higher needs guy. He does not cry it out well. We tried a few times before and he does not really seem able to calm/self soothe himself down. This is typical of high needs kids. Also, he doesn't/will not take a pacifier or suck his fingers. Nor has he attached to a lovey.

In other words, he still needs us/me. And it is our job as parents to be flexible and patient with him as we nurture his independence and meet his needs.