Weaning Kayson

On December 6, I decided that something needed to change. Kayson was nursing all the time (mostly at night, but sometimes in the daytime too). And guess who was getting jipped on sleep the most? That's right, me. I was just so upset...I couldn't figure out why he wouldn't sleep. I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. I heard all these stories of parent's kids sleeping from 7pm-11am, and I kept thinking, "Wow! I must not be cut out for this. I don't even know how to get my baby to sleep and stay asleep."

I sent a Facebook message to a friend asking her how she weaned her daughter. I discovered that the process was hard and even her daughter struggled a bit with staying asleep. I heard the same thing from another friend and another friend. I finally realized that I wasn't alone! Man, that was the best news to hear. We decided to go ahead and jump right into weaning Kayson that night.

I hope that this doesn't seem cruel, but I wore earplugs that night. One of the things that usually makes me give in to nursing Kayson is his cry. Over the past few months, it has gotten super loud (i.e. make you go deaf "loud"). He stayed in bed with us for most of the night and morning because I couldn't just let him cry in his room for hours. I didn't want him to be alone during this transition stage. The ear plugs helped a ton. I could still hear him cry and was able to comfort him. The earplugs just helped me to not get so upset. He would cry, ask for chi chi (to which I respond, "no chi chi baby"), and then fall back asleep. We did this for maybe 2 or 3 days. Then one night he slept from 7pm until 6am. I was so amazed.

The next two days were really tough for me because my body was used to him nursing every 2 hours like a newborn. Thankfully, with the help of cabbage leaves and Ibuprofen I got through it. Dang, though, I didn't know how *flat* they would go. hahaha! Goodbye C's (I hope we meet again) and hello A's (I really didn't miss you).

Anyway, Kayson nurses once in the morning and that's it. It's mainly because I'm the one who initiates. I guess I'm not ready for it to be 100% over. I'm enjoying the time I have with my little boy who's not really a baby anymore.

UPDATE: haha! I wrote the above post about a month ago. A few days after that, Kayson ended up getting sick and wasn't eating. He mainly wanted to nurse so I gave in and let him. There's something about a sick baby that just weakens me

Update on 3/2/14: I wrote this post at the beginning of 2013, but I wanted to publish it anyway because it's part of my family's story.