Sunday, February 26, 2006

Could This Be The First Step Towards Weaning?

I have seen the light at the end of the tunnel! Very distant at the moment, but it's getting closer, I swear!!
It was Valentine's Day. It was bedtime for my 18 month old Daughter. We went through our usual bedtime routine: bath, dressed in jammies, pop in the Mozart CD( keeping it low so as not to be too distracting), reading books (all of them, as well as several times through), then lights off and rocking in the chair with meems (one of the many endearing terms she has given to my breasts) as usual.
She appeared to be content. Then, without any warning, she unlatched, threw herself to the bed in full dramatics and started screaming. These were no regular bedtime quirks. She was pissed. She got up finally, wandered a bit around the room, obviously tired, not knowing what to do, still screaming, refusing to be picked up. At this point, I thought it best for her to get out whatever she needed to get out, out. She calms down, comes back for meems, repeat.
Suddenly, it dawned on me: she didn't even want to nurse! She just wants to go to sleep! The third time around, after she had calmed down, she went and laid down on the bed and became very quiet. I crept down from the chair to make sure she actually asleep, and not anything else. Yep, she was fast asleep, even snoring softly. I lay down next to her ever so carefully as to not wake her and chance another screaming fit, and just held her for a bit. I began to rub her back gently, working in the massage techniques I learned from books and videos. She moved into the crook of my arm, but not to nurse. She just wanted to cuddle! She went to sleep with no meems whatsoever. What's more, she stayed asleep for the rest of the night!!

When all of this happened, I immediately realized what was going on: She's starting to wean herself, slowly, gradually. Very gradually.

She did this again a few more times later in the week-minus the screaming. She just climbed into the bed and fell asleep without meems after only a few rocks of the chair. Could it be? Could this be the very beginning of weaning?

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