Milk Monster Part II
So yesterday around 9:30 a.m. Mary Rene started to yawn and was ready for her morning nap. I usually rock her to Channel 5125, which is country music. I had the music going and she was in my arms but I decided to lay her in the crib first. I laid her down and walked in the other room. I heard her playing for a few minutes and then it got really quiet. I quietly walked in the room and as soon as she saw me she started to pucker up her lips like she was about to cry. I was going to leave the room but I smelled poop! Oh she pooped her diaper in the crib again. Why oh why does she do that? So I got her out and changed her diaper. I was going to put her back in the crib but I knew at this point she wouldn’t have anything to do with it. So I decided to just nurse her to sleep in my bed. Within five minutes she was sound asleep. I went in the other room, checked my work email and then decided…I was going to nap with her. I haven’t done that in months and really needed to relax. So I laid next to her and we napped together for another 20 minutes.
Later that day during her second nap I checked my email and saw the wonderful comments from my loyal readers Joanne and Lerin. Thank you so much for being honest with me. I really needed to hear that. What you said is what I felt but I was giving in to “western” culture. Plus I keep hearing about all my friends who are able to get their babies to nap without work and I just felt like a failure. But I’m glad you gals supported me because I really needed it. And so does Mary Rene.
So last night, Mary Rene was really tired after swim lessons and ready for bed. I started to nurse her to sleep like I always do. She had just fallen asleep when…someone rang our doorbell! Seriously. Sophie started running around the house and barking hysterically. I really need to get this on video someday so you can see how ballistic she gets when someone is at the door. Mary Rene’s eyes opened wide and she tried sitting up to see what was going on. I could have ran out there with my boob hanging out to scream at the person. I was so extremely frustrated. Frank came in the room and she started crying so we picked her up and Frank played with her in the front room while I worked. Within 30 minutes she was yawning and ready for bed. My plan was to try and nurse her to sleep again. But Frank wanted to be inventive and put light music on for her. He got the radio and we put it on the local classical radio station, 99.1 (thank you Melissa for the suggestion!) So while the music was softly playing in the background I nursed her to sleep. She was out like a light within minutes.
We kept the music on until I went to bed at 11 p.m. And the best part, she slept until 6:30 a.m. She slept through the night!!! (and the second best part-I was not full! No pain.) She was up an hour earlier then usual and I could tell she didn’t really want to be up (she must have heard my alarm go off.) So I quickly nursed her and she went back to sleep until 7:30 a.m. Perfect.
So starting today:
- Naps: I will first try to rock and sing to her like I always do. If she doesn’t surrender then I will nurse her.
- Bedtime: I will nurse her to classical music.
I like this plan much better. Even though I have many friends who don’t rely on nursing for naps and bedtime, I also have many friends that do it. I don’t know why I was trying to fit in a group that I didn’t belong in!
June 24th, 2009 at 11:54 am
Trena, I nursed Nathan to sleep until he was 2 years old and I became pregnant again. I think a 2 year old is so much easier to get to sleep without bf’ing then an infant. Plus, once I weaned him, I had my husband start putting him to bed most nights. This was because I was so exhausted with being pregnant, and also to give a new start to Nathan so he didn’t expect ‘boobies’ before bed. I plan on doing the same with Autumn, because I think it’d be close to impossible to get her to sleep without feeding her first. Do whatever works and gets you sleep at night. It isn’t like you will be nursing her to sleep forever, it is just a short period of their lives (1 year or whatever you choose). At 2, we started reading Nathan books and then we’d play music and lay him in the crib and he’d be out within 5-10 minutes… at 1, we could have NEVER done that.. Now he is 3 and we say nights out and he goes to sleep all on his own. Good luck!! Autumn is 7 months and I still nurse her to sleep. I’ve never had an easy one that would go to sleep on their own! I wish!
June 24th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
I’m jealous you can still nurse her to sleep. My supply is so bad after working full time that we only really made it to 10 months. I say get them to sleep however you can - it’s not worth the struggle. We still rock Bea to sleep, there is no way she would fall asleep on her own. She’s just not wired that way. She’s so excited to be doing things that it’s hard for her to wind down.
I love rocking her to sleep (most nights) - she’ll only be a baby for so long, I want to enjoy every minute. I’m not looking forward to the time when she’ll be too big to cuddle with me before bed!
June 24th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Trena, you know how old Alex is….I still nurse him to drowsiness (sometimes sleep) each and every afternoon and night. He does wake when I stand up to lay him in bed, but he is still pretty much “drunk” on breastmilk (I love that look, by the way!). It took me a long time to get him to the point of being able to fall asleep on his own like that. The music helps, that is for sure. But my point is, Mary is still young. This will all come in time! Like your other friends have said, you are doing what is best for you and your baby. Please don’t ever feel bad for doing what you feel is in her best interest!
June 24th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
I’m so glad I could help.
The best “experts” on babies are their own parents.
June 24th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
At one point I wondered if my daughter would ever stop nursing to sleep, or waking up in the night for a snack. But you know, before I realized it, she wasn’t doing it any more. I had lots of people tell me the same thing about teaching them to fall asleep on their own. But you have to do what is best for you and her. This special time is over so fast. Believe it or not, but you will definitely miss it when it is over.
June 25th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
“Mom knows best” is my motto. You’re Mary Rene’s mom, follow your mother’s instinct. Each baby is different. At 7mths, we trained Sarah to sleep by herself and used the crying out method. It was heart wrenching hearing her cry, I too cried listening to her cries but had to resisi the urge to carry her. If I did pick her up, her crying would be in vain and she wouldnt have learnt that she need to sleep by herself. It took about 5 days for her to fall asleep by herself