Four Nights to Nighttime Bliss…..hopefully…..

Hello Gentle readers!

Can I just stop for a moment and say I love you guys?????? Thanks for all of your support and advice!!!

Sniff Sniff.

Anyway!!!!!!I know it’s supposed to be Total Me Monday, but I didn’t do what I was supposed to do last week.

So, essentially, this week is a do over.  Same goals.  Except, I go back to work this week. (boo hooo!).

Instead, I’m going to talk about what is really on my  mind today:

My toddler’s sleeping habits.

Last Thursday night, Pookah lost.his.mind.

He woke up at 930, 1030 and 1230.  And by 1230, I was over it.  My hubby had tried to be helpful and feed the child every time he woke up.  OK, that was 2 feedings in less that 4 hours.

Are you kiddging me C-Dub??????

So, determined to stop that, when Pookah woke up at 1230, I went in and was like, noooo. Go.to.sleep.

For an hour, there was a battle of wills while the Pookah cried, moaned, screeched, and finally just went back to sleep.

And stayed that way until 630.

Hmmmmmmm.

So, my little rugrat, you can sleep through the night without ingesting half a gallon of milk……….

Granted, his father had milk loaded him from the hours of 8 to 12, but still!

I thought about this all weekend long and last night, I started my plan.

Four Nights to Nighttime Bliss.

Let me first state that no, I am NOT going to starve my child.

Some days he eats better than others, and I am well aware of when those days are.

If he is REALLY hungry, I will feed him.  Believe me, he will let me know.

But, as last night proved, he can do without.  For the most part.

I wanted to be just gangsta, and cut him off completely. But C-Dub….oh C-Dub……

C-Dub(always his boy’s avicate in the food arena) suggested that I taper off how much milk he gets until he just didn’t get anything.  He wasn’t willing to just “let my boy starve”.

Sigh.

So, my compromise was this:

Each night, I will taper the amount of milk he gets.  Usually during the night he gets about 6 oz per feeding.  Each night, he will get less and less and less until finally……

there is  none.

Sooo, keeping in mind that Pookah is also teething( The Molars, God the Molars!!!!) this is how last night went:

8:00 pm: To bed after bath.  Motrin given for pain.  Bedtime bottle in effect( yes I know, I will get rid of the bottle AFTER I get him to sleep through the night).

10:00 pm: Pookah wakes up screeching.  Either it’s a nightmare or it’s his teeth. I smear on some Baby Orajel and he’s back asleep before I can lay him back down.

01:00 am: Awake again: WTH? But since I am expecting to be up half the night, this doesn’t bother me so much.  C-Dub brings me the reduced bottle before I ask( he is sure his boy is hungry).  But Pookah just wants to play.  But I tell him to lay down and sleep.  Eventually he agrees, lays down with Monkey Cole( his sleeping companion) and goes back to sleep.  ON HIS OWN.

3:30am: Awake again.  I change his diaper.  He lays his head on my shoulder and seems to be going back to sleep.  Finally, he leans back and makes the baby sign for “milk”.  I offer him the reduced bottle 4 oz and he drinks it.  No complaints.  I lay him down, and he goes.back.to.sleep.  NO PROBLEM.

7:00am: Pookah wakes up “Ma Ma”  I bring him and Monkey Cole back to my bed so I can catch a few more zzzz’s.  He goes back to sleep until 8am.

Interesting.

We’ll see how tonight goes.

Hopefully, he will learn( as my friend PreshusMe says) that Nighttime is for sleeping, not eating………….

Have a great Monday folks!