Do you nurse down?
I do. I love putting my son to sleep. He seems to fall into his nap or bedtime so peacefully. It seemed a little too easy--and I wondered if I would be regretting this decision later on (imagining a five year old who won't go to sleep without being nursed down). I've committed myself to BF and I want to do it as long as Par wants to do it. What I didn't imagine was that Par would want to quit before me.
For the past couple of nights Par has remained awake while I feed him before he goes to sleep. I was so confused/frustrated. Why was he still awake--now he's full--what do I do? It didn't occur to me to try another way to put him to bed. But...as I pondered this while nursing an alert child at 11pm I realized that maybe his needs are changing--maybe BF is becoming less of a comfort to him. Don't get me wrong--it is still the easiest/quickest/best way to calm him if he hurts himself. So in that aspect, BF is definitely a comfort. So I have started rocking him while singing Edelweiss to him (just like my mom did for me)--and what do you know--He falls to sleep!
I realize this sounds ridiculous to a lot of people--of course you should rock your baby to sleep! Well...for me--this has never been part of our "routine" (see previous post).
Funny thing is--I read something about this a few months ago. It reminds us BF moms that our babe's needs change--and although he may be pulling at your blouse acting like he wants some Mommy Milk--this might be his way of saying "play with me"--the article encouraged us to try to meet needs in additional ways. It makes sense--I wish I had remembered that the first night I was perplexed.
So--although he still nurses quite often--this little piece of his life is changing...like everything that reminds us that our little ones grow up too fast...I end this post with a deep sigh.
Podcast: Can you be fired for pumping at work?
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I recently posted an interview with Jake Marcus, JD on breastfeeding and
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11 years ago
1 comment:
I used to nurse Claire to sleep for naps and at bedtime. As she got older she wanted to nurse less frequently. At around 9-10 months she would only nurse about 5 times in a 24-hour period. She wanted to play during the day and didn't want to stop to nurse, so I could only get her to nurse when she was drowsy -- when she woke up in the morning, before her two naps, at bedtime, and in the middle of the night. She was also starting to eat more solids during this time.
At 11 months she fell off her growth chart and I couldn't get her to nurse anymore than she already was, so per the doctor's suggestion I started giving her PediaSure from a straw cup. After that she quickly gave up nursing during the day. She'd much rather play, grab her cup and take a sip, and keep playing rather than being "tied down" by nursing.
She kept nursing at night for another month, but gradually stopped waking up wanting to so we tapered off. By 12.5 months she was done nursing altogether.
I was sad at first, but realized that she is growing up and that's just part of it. I was planning on nursing her as long as she wanted to and figured that would be until 18 months or so, but she had other plans.
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