Post by annapunkalunka on Mar 2, 2016 8:56:07 GMT -5
What's everyone do!? We're going to be dropping our bedtime nursing session so we'll need to mix up our routine and I'm looking for some ideas. Right now we nurse in our living room, give kisses and say "goodnight" to whichever parent isn't bringing her up, go up to her room, pull the shades, turn on the sound machine, put on her sleep sack then snuggle her a bit, say good night and put her in her crib. Short and sweet. Works like a charm.
What's everyone do!? We're going to be dropping our bedtime nursing session so we'll need to mix up our routine and I'm looking for some ideas. Right now we nurse in our living room, give kisses and say "goodnight" to whichever parent isn't bringing her up, go up to her room, pull the shades, turn on the sound machine, put on her sleep sack then snuggle her a bit, say good night and put her in her crib. Short and sweet. Works like a charm.
We brush teeth, put pajamas and diaper on, read two books, say good night, hum a couple verses of You are My Sunshine, lay her down, cover up, walk out.
We say it's time for night night and go upstairs, get into a night time diaper, PJ's, sometimes we read a book if it's a little early, other times she will ask to turn her sound machine on and the light off so we skip the book. She crawls into bed by herself, we tuck her in with her A&A blanket and give her a kiss. She's super easy to put to bed and I think part of it is personality, but partly because we started a night time routine pretty early on, like 3 months. It's changed a bit as she's gotten older but I definitely think the consistency helped. We shall see with number 2 though! Haha!
H reads him a book while I get the bath tub ready and then they come down, H takes his diaper off and kisses him goodnight. I do bath time, tooth brushing and lotion then we go get jammies and diaper on. Lately, he has been very attached to his lovey, so we get lovey, turn off the lights and wrap him in a blanket and rock and sing for a few minutes. Then into the crib and off to sleep.
It is kind of interesting to me, he was pretty meh about loveys for awhile, then he found his turtle security blanket and he now is very attached to it at bed/nap time. Just in the last week since adding his lovey in, he goes to sleep within a few minutes, rather than fussing in his crib until he fell asleep (some nights for 15+ minutes).
Offer one last drink. Say "it's time for night-night!" And he goes running to his room. It's super cute. But once we're there he's not always so cooperative lol. We do diaper change, pj's, brush teeth, say goodnight to daddy if he's home, story, rock for 1 song, and into the crib he goes where I tuck him in, give him his lovey, and give him a few tummy pats while saying the last goodnight/ I love you's. 10ish minutes, 15 if he's fighting the diaper change. Less if he's super tired- we rush through story/ rocking/ tucking in. When we dropped bedtime nurse, I added a cup of milk for a few days but he didn't really need it. But it might be a good place to start for you- especially if you do your nursing session before you head to her room. That way she's not feeling thirsty when she goes to bed.
What's everyone do!? We're going to be dropping our bedtime nursing session so we'll need to mix up our routine and I'm looking for some ideas. Right now we nurse in our living room, give kisses and say "goodnight" to whichever parent isn't bringing her up, go up to her room, pull the shades, turn on the sound machine, put on her sleep sack then snuggle her a bit, say good night and put her in her crib. Short and sweet. Works like a charm.
We brush teeth, put pajamas and diaper on, read two books, say good night, hum a couple verses of You are My Sunshine, lay her down, cover up, walk out.
This. I also recite to her a story I made up about her. We always read the same two books, also.
Post by peachesncream on Mar 2, 2016 9:49:55 GMT -5
We do bath time every night, then brush teeth. We go to her room for lotion and get her in her pajamas. We read a book or two, turn on the sound machine and turn off the light, rock her for 1-2 minutes, then lay her down in her crib.
Post by lucilleaustero on Mar 2, 2016 9:50:53 GMT -5
1) dinner 2) bath a few times a week 3) put on pjs 4) read the same 4 books every damn night 5) cuddle for a few minutes 6) sound machine on/ lights off 7) put him in and he is out almost immediately
What's everyone do!? We're going to be dropping our bedtime nursing session so we'll need to mix up our routine and I'm looking for some ideas. Right now we nurse in our living room, give kisses and say "goodnight" to whichever parent isn't bringing her up, go up to her room, pull the shades, turn on the sound machine, put on her sleep sack then snuggle her a bit, say good night and put her in her crib. Short and sweet. Works like a charm.
We basically do this without the nursing. The only difference is most nights we wait until he's upstairs to put on PJs and we always read the same goodnight book. Basically the Pjs, sleep sack and the book are the obvious hints that it's time for bed. It's nice because anytime we sleep away from home he still has his pjs, sleep sack and book with him. He just passed out no matter the location.
Bath, pjs, bedtime snack, night to other parent and DS. Then we brush her teeth. After that, rock in her rocking chair with blanket, pacifer and teddy bear for a few minutes. Then she gets put in her crib and she tells us nigh nigh.
We used to read books, but now she just wants to snuggle and rock. Sometimes, we'll read books during snack time.
Post by puffandstuff on Mar 2, 2016 11:51:26 GMT -5
1-Bath 2-Tooth brushing 3-Lotion and jammies 4-Books w/ nursing 5-Rock her while humming "night time song" from Yo Gabba Gabba (sometimes she just wants to get in bed and she hums the song to herself) 6-then bed
1. Bath 2. Brush Teeth 3. Let run around naked for a few minutes before getting diaper and pjs on 4. Turn on 15 minutes of bedtime music on My Pal Violet 5. Lights out and kisses from her teddy bears. 6. Lay her down in her crib.
Post by lucilleaustero on Mar 2, 2016 14:41:05 GMT -5
Forgot to add. DS still breastfed twice a day until last month. When he was EBF for the first year, he nursed to sleep. But, once he hit a year, I started pulling back on his night feeding in slow increments. By the time he was down to two feedings a day, they were at wake up and at 5pm when I got home from work. It took a few months to get to 5pm, but it was lovely once he got there.
Now he only asks to bfeed every few days and it is at all different times.
Post by gratefulgirl on Mar 2, 2016 19:11:44 GMT -5
New diaper + PJs Brush teeth Read a bit of a Bible storybook In sleepsack Rock + Sing Talk about her day (at this age it's just one of us telling her what she did) In crib
The talking about her day is how we replace bedtime nursing. It has become a great time to connect.
We do lotion and pjs, then play in his bedroom for 10 or 15 minutes. Then we read a few books, I rock him on my shoulder for 3 minutes or so, then turn off the light and put him in the crib.
Post by annapunkalunka on Mar 2, 2016 20:28:05 GMT -5
Well tonight was night one and I'm sitting in my bathroom with the fan on crying. She's crying so hard. All she wanted to do was nurse. I've never felt like a more awful mother.
Well tonight was night one and I'm sitting in my bathroom with the fan on crying. She's crying so hard. All she wanted to do was nurse. I've never felt like a more awful mother.
I'm sorry, weaning is so hard. I still get emotional thinking about it. Just remember that she's safe, dry and warm. Nursing is a relationship and both parties have to want to continue it.
Well tonight was night one and I'm sitting in my bathroom with the fan on crying. She's crying so hard. All she wanted to do was nurse. I've never felt like a more awful mother.
Ugh, this was me a month ago. I felt so bad denying her when she asked but it only lasted a few days for us. Hugs, I'm sorry it's so hard.
Post by annapunkalunka on Mar 2, 2016 20:52:52 GMT -5
Thanks annbuhdan and weeklyplanner. I feel absolutely terrible. She's still crying on and off and it's been half an hour. I feel sick dealing with this. But it helps to know you guys felt the same and that it got better.
Well tonight was night one and I'm sitting in my bathroom with the fan on crying. She's crying so hard. All she wanted to do was nurse. I've never felt like a more awful mother.
You are not an awful mother. I had to wean J at 22 months when I was pregnant with Max. It was hard at first, but it gets easier. And she won't remember this. She will still love you immensely, even after a night of crying for your boob.
Well tonight was night one and I'm sitting in my bathroom with the fan on crying. She's crying so hard. All she wanted to do was nurse. I've never felt like a more awful mother.
((Hugs)). DD1 was like this. She's 4 now and the only one of us who was traumatized by it was me. It's really hard, but hopefully it is as short for you guys as it usually is.
Big hugs annapunkalunka weaning is such an emotional roller coaster, it's so hard. It will be a rough couple days and then you guys will get in a new routine, hang in there. Can your DH step up for a few days?
Post by annapunkalunka on Mar 3, 2016 6:42:02 GMT -5
Thanks ladies. Once she fell asleep she was down for the night, thankfully. And we nursed this morning. DH put her to bed last night. She was screaming in my arms bc we weren't nursing, then he brought her upstairs and she just kept screaming. So it didn't seem to make a huge difference that he put her down. He's going to be gone tonight for bedtime so idk what I'm going to do. 90% of me wants to say "fuck this" and just nurse her then try weaning again later.
I am still nursing at night, that is our only time. and it is only for like 8 minutes max just to keep my supply going. We will be dropping it soon and I am kind of terrified. I KNOW it won't be a big deal for DS, but it will be for me. I have done bed time every night except like 3 nights. H has never done bed time.
Thanks ladies. Once she fell asleep she was down for the night, thankfully. And we nursed this morning. DH put her to bed last night. She was screaming in my arms bc we weren't nursing, then he brought her upstairs and she just kept screaming. So it didn't seem to make a huge difference that he put her down. He's going to be gone tonight for bedtime so idk what I'm going to do. 90% of me wants to say "fuck this" and just nurse her then try weaning again later.
Honestly, most people would probably agree that the first night is the worst, so you might want to reconsider throwing in the towel. But, then again, I totally understand wanting to just say "fuck it."
I agree with weeklyplanner, you've already made it through the hardest night.
Can you offer milk in a sippy while you read her some books or something? This may sound hippie dippie but I would also "explain" to her earlier in the evening that you aren't going to nurse at night anymore and why. Not saying that will eliminate the tears by any means, but I do honestly believe they understand more than we give credit for a lot of times. I know it's way different, but when we ditched the bedtime bottle it was all about distraction. He had gotten into the habit of drinking it on his changing table while I got him ready for bed. I gave him some little books to look at instead. By the time he realized he hadn't had a bottle, it was already time to move to the rocker for stories. Again, I know it's way different but maybe you could find a way to replace it in your routine too
annapunkalunka try and stay strong tonight, I know it's difficult but if you give it she cried all hose tears last night for no reason. I agree that I think they understand more than we give them credit for so maybe try talking about. I'm sure that won't stop the tears but she may understand better. Try to think of it as she is crying because she is protesting change, really who actually likes changes. Hugs and good luck tonight.
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