Jackson loves his bottle. Seriously. When I put him to bed and give him a bottle of milk he sighs and says "baba..." in such a loving way! He loves his milk, if he's fussy or cranky, offer him a bottle and he's fine. He will carry it around, dangling from his mouth, while playing, talking, running, whatever. I know it's my fault. I read the books, I read about not letting the baby fall asleep while nursing. But it was easy! So easy, and when you are tired, well easy works.
So here we are at almost 16 months and my little baby wakes up at least once, if not twice, in the middle of the night and cries. What he wants is his bottle. My baby doesn't use a soother, he has a bottle. And it has me concerned. How do I get him to give it up? I mean with a soother, at night, he'd have it in his crib and when he wakes up he'd find it and voila! But I don't want to leave him with a bottle in his bad all night, so now he wakes up and cries, and I go in and give him his baba. I used to stay with him, we'd rock and cuddle. But now, since I'm back at work and need my sleep a little more, I give him the bottle and leave.
I know, I know! His teeth are all going to rot out of his head, and he'll have speaking and dental issues. But it's easy. Between the extra milk, the very full diapers with occasional leaks, and the sometimes having to go fill up another bottle because I didn't take enough up in the cooler bag, well it's not as easy as it was but I think it's still easier than having him upset and crying. I'm sure he'll grow out of it eventually, even when he's older and I can talk to him about it, then it might be easier.
I googled it of course, to find out if there are nice, friendly ways to get him to give it up. And I read about kids who are 3 or 5 when they finally gave it up. One kid was 7! So I am going to continue as is. Though I will be switching him to water instead of milk for the overnight bottles, but probably not until the weekend. I can always have a nap Saturday and Sunday after all :-) And if it doesn't go well those days, I'll try again over Easter when I visit my parents, maybe the change of scenery and routine will be enough to do it.
The things I've learned from all of this? Soothers aren't the enemy :-) And letting baby fall asleep while nursing is not the best idea. What will I do with baby number 2? Whatever works lol, so yes, I might make the same mistakes again, who knows! But I won't feel guilty over giving my child something that comforts them. Talk to me in a few weeks after we visit my parents and my mom goes on about how I gave up my bottle at 6 months... though she also loves to tell the story of how she'd prop a bottle up in the corner of my crib for when I woke up in the middle of the night... So not really sure what the truth of that situation was, but I'm sure she'll have an opinion about my situation.
For now, Jackson will continue to get his baba at bed time, and over night. And I will continue to smile when he grabs it from me, flops over and sighs... baba...
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