5 nights in a row of no "booba"

Everly has now gone 5 nights without nursing to sleep.  Wednesday night she did fuss, and I had to sing her A LOT of songs and nursery rhymes but she never cried.  Thursday I just sang for a couple minutes, and tonight she fell asleep on her way to bed.  She barely napped today and we went swimming which I think really tired her out.

Bedtime is so much better now.  I really like not getting stuck lying beside her forever.  She is still nursing the entire time I read, and I probably read to her for at least 15 minutes.  

I am thinking that next Friday I might try to not nurse her on her first waking of the night.  Whch reminds me she seems to be going back to her more normal sleeping schedule.  Last night I think she woke twice and it wasn't very eventful.  The night before she tossed and turned (a molar came through) but stayed in bed and didn't try to get out.  I think keeping her in the room even when she wanted out the prior nights helped get us back on track.

I feel hopeful that by the time I get pregnant (6+ months from now) she might be nightweaned.  I still love nursing her throughout the day and never feel like I want to stop that.  

Night #2

Our second night started out so well.  Pooks had her bath, we got her ready for bed, and I read her 10 books again.  She was so tired by the time I finished the last book.  Once again I told her that the "booba's were going night night".  She was upset, for maybe 5 seconds.  The she put her head on the pillow and passed out in under 5 minutes!!  I felt so great.

Then she woke up in the middle of the night and would not go back to sleep.  She fussed, then cried, and then tantrumed.   It probably took us an hour to get her to go back to sleep.  DH was good though and told me to stay in the room even though he had to get up for work.  He wanted to hold her while she tantrumed but I told him to let her go.  He left while she let it out by the bedroom door.  It only took maybe 5-10 minutes before she decided to go back in bed.  She tried to fall asleep but just couldn't.  It took so long, she was so restless.  I noticed this morning that her bottom molar is through so perhaps it was making it's way up last night?

I wish DH would go sleep in the basement.  I get so stressed knowing he is stressed about being tired for work.  We actually have a spare room but the noise would carry right into it, so it is pointless for him to sleep there.

I hope tonight goes better.  She still has one more molar left in this set.

First Night a Success

Well I had prepared for the worst last night and it went shockingly well. We did our normal bedtime routine. I read Pookie 10 books, which is more than usual and after each book I reminded her that after we finished reading the "booba's would go to sleep." She kept saying "yeah". When we read the last book I unlatched her and she reached out and made her smacking noises she makes when she wants to nurse. I told her to go get her pillow and she did. She put her head on the pillow and I offered her some water. I turned off the lights and she just lay there. I held my breath.
Then she got a bit restless and I asked if she wanted to cuddle and she said yes. She snuggled up to me and passed out in under 5 minutes!!

Holy smokes that was EASY! She definitely remembered the routine from before when we did this. I think reading her lots of books also helped her unwine. Who knows what tonight will bring... but at least we have one very successful night under our belts.

She woke up at 11:30 and wanted out of bed. SHe didn't want to nurse, she wanted "UP!!!". Jeff was in bed at this point and together we kept her in bed. She settled down when I offered to sing Jingle Bells. I sang until she fell asleep and the rest of the night was uneventful. I felt like she remembered the night before when I wouldn't let her out because while she defintely wanted out she didn't try as hard as before.

Nightweaning Plan

Pookie has been sleeping better this past week.  She has still had her moments but I feel more clear in the head.  For the record we do try to live as consensually as possible but I have come to realize we will never be fully consensual.  It just doesn't feel right to me.  Because I am aware of CL I have found the idea of any type of mother-led weaning hard.  The thing is after much thought I do know what we are doing right now isn't working and is definitely not going to work with another baby.  I want to give Pookie lots or lead time to the changes I would like to make before we have another baby.

I am sure after observing Pooks last night that the reason she is now getting up in the middle of the night is simply because it is fun.  At first it may of been because of her teeth, but now I am very certain she is doing it because she wakes up and wants to go hang out in the basement.  She woke up last night shortly after I put her to bed and threw a fit wanting to go downstairs.  I just had to put my foot down.  I kept the bedroom door shut and was beside her as she tantrumed.  Eventually she mellowed out and came and cuddled with me until finally she fell asleep.  She slept really well.  So part of my new nighttime plan is that if she does wake up we don't leave the room.  If DH doesn't like it he can leave!

Phase one of my nightweaning plan is to go back to not nursing her to sleep, and not nursing her until about 10pm.  After 10pm I will nurse her as much as she likes.  Once that goes smoothly I will extend the time by an hour or two, so we gradually go longer and longer without nursing at night.  I will let her nurse all she wants while we read books, but after that I am going to put a tight shirt on she can't get into.  I will sing to her, rock her, cuddle her as much as she needs.

Tonight will be the first night.  I hope it goes OK!

Baby Making Plans

So I had a wonderful X-mas present.  On Dec 26, I finally got my first postpartum period!!  Everly was 19.5 months.  It felt so good to know we could start TTC.  I had thought we might start in Feb or March, after a month or two of really eating well and doing the very gentle detox my naturopath suggested.

Well a few days later my younger sister got engaged!  I am so happy for her, but they are planning to get married next January... in the Carribean.  So... I am putting TTC plans on hold.  From what I read it should be safe to travel as long as I am less than 36 weeks.  That means the earliest we can start trying in June.  It is a bit of a bummer, but it does give us more time to get Pookie ready... and hopefully nightweaned to some extent.

I was planning on temping right away to track my cycles, but with Pookies terrible sleep habits lately it just wasn't happening.  The good news is it was SO clear to me when I ovulated this month.  It was pretty amazing.  My nipples got really sore, and all the other signs were there.  

About 6 weeks before my period came I was starting to feel more moody.  I talked to the naturopath about it.  My intuition told me my cycles were going to start.  It feels good to know your body that well.

Who needs a $450 kitchen when you have a husband like mine!

DH really outdid himself with Pookie's Kitchen.  He finished just after Christmas which actually worked out well because we were given all the accessories for it.  We set it all up for her and did an unveiling.  The LOVES it!  We now have a little table for her where the potty is and DH is going to build her a little fridge as well.  This is in one end of our dining room, but I thought it was perfect to have it there so she could work in her kitchen, while I worked in ours.  She plays with it everyday.

I love that DH did the burners out of wood and made them darker just like the one I coveted.  The knobs for the burners click when you turn them.  I am not sure how he did that but he figured something out while he was at Home Depot.  We put two RAST ikea tables together and stood them the wrong way up.  The other one that we based this idea off would of been two short and way too tiny.  We wanted something that would last her.  Then DH put another piece of wood ontop as the counter and he worked from there.  All he had was a jigsaw, and some nice guys at the depot who cut some of the wood for him.

Why I haven't been posting much

I have been too tired to post. I have been having a real rough time right now with Pookie at night. This is a post I made on MDC.. I am too lazy to rewrite it for my blog.

Two months ago my DD was getting up once or twice to nurse, and many times I could barely remember nursing her as it was so uneventful.Then she started getting 6 teeth at once. Since then it has been horrible. I keep blaming it on the teething but now I am wondering if it is something else. She just has one more tooth to finish coming through and other than the nightwaking it doesn't seem to be bothering her.

Some nights I have been up with her from 1-4am. She cries and cries until I take her down to the basement, and then she will just quietly doing a puzzle, watch TV with me and then fall back asleep eventually. Last night she woke up screaming and would absolutely not stay in our room. So today we have been up since 4am. I work two days a week (today being one of them) and leave at 6am.

In the last week she is also wanting to keep my nipple in her mouth while she sleeps, which has made a back/ shoulder injury I have (from co-sleeping with her), even worse. I am a ballet teacher so it is making teaching very difficult.Last night I thought I was going to lose it. I had all these horrible thoughts and just had no patience left.

We can't keep going like this. I have no energy during the day to be a good mom, my back is getting worse which makes teaching and carrying her harder and harder. Before this all started I had begun trying to get her to stop nursing to sleep (which could be another thread). It was going OK before all this started. I feel angry that perhaps I wouldn't be in this situation if I hadn't chosen to co-sleep. No one I know has these types of problems with their toddlers. Has anyone else been through something like this?

Do you think it really is teething or something else? A year ago I posted about some sleep problems we were having and of couse I go the "this too shall pass"... but it hasn't! It has only gotten worse. Before all this I has hoping to TTC in the spring and now I can't imagine being pregnant in the near future... which makes me really depressed.