Weaning: It Sucks
Posted on May 25th, 2007 in Challenges, crying, sleep
It’s a good thing I know Boobaby loves me, because last night she was… pissed. Like ready-to-do-me-bodily-harm pissed. Madder-than-a-really-good-mad-metaphor PISSED.
I had gone into my loving daughter’s room to console her when her cries woke me at 1 a.m. When she saw me, her eyes turned bitter.
“Oh, no, you didn’t!” she cried, frustration etched into her screwed-up eyes. “Bring me the booooooooooob!”
Worst night ever in the weaning battle.
We’ve gotten Boo down to just one nursing before bed. It’s not a casual decision: she and Working Mom are both in treatment for a yeast infection and we’re trying to get pregnant.
It’s not like she nursed all that often before, anyway: WM would nurse before bed, and then she and I would trade off nighttime wakenings. Boo took a bottle from me or a boob from WM just fine — I mean, I’ve been giving her bottles since her first week! Hello, little dude, I’m a stay-at-home dad! Can you say naptime?
Clearly, she’s caught on to us. My bottle was just peachy before, when she knew the boob was coming home later. But now, it’s all bottle, all the time. It’s just me getting Boo up at midnight, and it’s just me putting Boo down for naps. If WM tries to offer a bottle, my sweet-as-sugar daughter claws her way under sweater and shirt and bra with the ferocity of a ferret on a bunny hunt.
So I’ve been the sleepy-time food provider for a week or so. Although it’s tiring, I await our reward: I’ve got my eyes on the weaning prize. Plus, the appliances aren’t getting destroyed anymore.
But Wednesday night — up for hours and hours of screaming — I almost lost my nerve. Finally, after
- a midnight snack,
- a baby massage,
- seventeen books,
- and endless cuddling,
- seventeen books,
- a baby massage,
Boobaby took a bottle from me, snorted twice, and fell asleep.
Somebody, please reassure me. This gets easier, right?
Right?
May 25th, 2007 7:48 am
Right!
It does get easier, but boy is it hard initially! You’re doing all the right things. Here’s hoping you get over the worst of it very soon!
May 25th, 2007 9:51 pm
This too shall pass.
Slowly.
May 25th, 2007 11:41 pm
No experience in this arena — just sending you good thoughts because yikes, 17 books?
May 26th, 2007 10:40 am
Good luck! thankfully when I was weaning DS, he had already stopped the night feedings. Those are the worst!! It will get better….it just takes some time. Hang in there!
May 26th, 2007 2:08 pm
Thanks, everyone, for the words of support! It shows every sign of getting better, bit by bit, but in the meantime… whoa!
Dd.
May 26th, 2007 6:56 pm
You are not alone. I think it gets really bad before it gets better! I was up with my 13-month old like he was a newborn RIGHT BEFORE HE WEANED HIMSELF! It took a weekend away for my husband and I (a first in a long while) and left poor little BabyBird with his loving Nana (my mother). He clawed her and screamed the first night, then wimpered the next and by the third night (when we were home) he was officially “sleeping through the night”. Boo will do it too! Hang in there.
May 26th, 2007 9:26 pm
Wow… you lucky folks, you!
I think we should probably be challenging her a little more — to wean, to fall asleep on her own, etc. We’re wimpy that way… plus, no relatives around to help!
May 29th, 2007 11:21 am
Wouldn’t it just be easier for everyone to let her decide when she’s ready to wean? I don’t think I could ever force my child to take a bottle where a perfectly good breat is ready and available. How sad for your poor child.
May 29th, 2007 4:51 pm
You must have missed the setup — WM’s got a nasty yeast infection which has spread to Boo’s mouth, so there are no perfectly good breasts available. Plus, we’re trying to get pregnant, and since we’re on the older side, doing that sooner rather than later is a vote for a healthy second child. Nursing has been interfering with ovulation, on and off.
Boo did seem to be weaning herself, for the most part — we just sped up a little, at the end, for her and mom’s health.
So, thanks for that plucky note of support. I’m sure there are plenty of reasons to be sad for our poor child, but this ain’t one of ‘em.
Trackbacks & Pingbacks
[...] Anyway, we had a couple of bad nights — Boo wanted mama, but if she got mama she would want boob, but if she got boob she would not get much food and she’d also make her infections worse. So it was daddy and bottle and lots of loving, and a few long nights. [...]
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