Breastfeeding through pregnancy

This past November marked a year since my older daughter, Penny, weaned on her own. She was about 20 months old and I was halfway through my second pregnancy with her little sister, Ruby. Choosing to nurse through pregnancy was not a decision that was lightly made; but it was a pure conviction that this was right for my girl and I. 

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When I became pregnant with my second child in June of 2013, I realized I had a big decision to make. My daughter, Penny, was 16 months old, and I was no where close to being ready or willing to wean her. Was it possible, or even recommended, for me to continue nursing through my pregnancy?

My gut reaction was that yes; I can and should. My daughter still nursed 4-5 times a day and although she was nearing night weaning, I wasn't ever planning to make us quit cold-turkey. Even knowing in my heart that I wanted to continue to nurse, I knew I'd have a tough road ahead of me.

At the end of my first trimester I blogged about why continuing to breastfeed in the early part of my pregnancy was my saving grace. No, it wasn't always comfortable. Pregnancy hormones were coursing through my body, I was sore and nauseated. But for my toddler none of that made a difference. She had no idea why mama was so tired all the time. Some moms might think that breastfeeding during pregnancy is inconvenient, another worry on their plate on what to do when the new baby comes, but for me it was a break. It was a break throughout the day, several times, to just rest and relax with my daughter...because Lord knows there was little else to stop her!

In my second trimester the discomfort truly began to peak but I still pushed on. I purchased Adventures in Tandem Nursing to read up on what to expect and how to help cope.  As my belly ballooned we started side nursing more often and she began to naturally cut back on frequency and duration. I began to suspect that I was drying up at around the 17-18 week mark, and there were many times where nursing was just plain painful. I put up a few boundaries to help keep the nursing relationship a beneficial and enjoyable one for the both of us and that worked for the following month.

At 23 weeks we took our planned babymoon. Because nursing had steadily decreased to only 1-2 times during the day and once at night time, I prepared myself that the night before we left may very well be the last time I nurse Penny. It's fairly common for that age to wean over night, especially because I had never spent a night away from her until that night. So I snuggled my Penny close, quietly reflected on the past 20 months that we shared this special bond, and let it go. My husband and I left her in the capable hands of her grandparents and took a refreshing break to prepare for our second child (that was due the day before Penny's 2nd birthday...but she had other plans!). When we returned, Penny wasn't terribly interested and I never offered again. Weaning her was an emotional time for me, it meant that after a 9 month pregnancy and 20 months of nursing, she no longer physically needed me for nourishment. But the excitement of the next baby coming eased my heart a little, and I wondered if she would regain interested once she saw her little sister nursing.

Ruby was born a week after her sister's 2nd birthday, and my oh my how my life has changed! Having 2 children just a hair over 2 years apart has not been easy, but also has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. As Ruby grows and gains more mobility, Penny has begun to interact with her more and I catch some of the sweetest moments that they share together. Though Penny never asked to nurse again, she understands the importance of it. Sometimes when Ruby is crying, she exasperatingly says "Mama, give Ruby MILK!"

This was originally published as a gust post on Mama Pure.

Our Weaning Experience

Not really sure how to start this post - I keep starting and stopping, re-writing and deleting. Well, here goes.

At the start of my second pregnancy I made the decision that I was not going to intentionally wean Penny. I had always had the goal of nursing her at least until her second birthday; if she wanted to stop before then or continue past that ambiguous date I'd be fine and we'd take it as it comes. Throughout the pregnancy I've cycled through moments of continuing to love nursing or sometimes just really dreading it. If there is one thing that's for sure, upon discovering that I am pregnant it was no longer comfortable. I was sore and soon my belly became more swollen. But I knew this was something that she still needed so I toughed it out and knew this was only for a season. I snuggled my P close.

Around week 20 I definitely noticed that my supply was dwindling. Eventually we transitioned to what I accepted as her comfort nursing for nap and night time. Perhaps there was a little bit of milk in the beginning, but I seriously doubted it as the weeks passed. I prepared myself for the possibility of the weekend of our babymoon being the weekend that Penny weans - because that's very often how it happens for kids at this age. The night before we left, I nursed and snuggled Penny so close, bringing myself to peace that this could be it. We had a good run - a few days short of 20 months. Sleep came quickly for her that night and I felt the possible finality of it all - and in my heart I was happy.

When we returned I expected that she might ask for it, but that afternoon and night she didn't. The next morning as we were getting ready for naptime she signed 'milk' once, and I simply said 'milk is all done,' and she was fine. She settled onto my chest as I rocked her and this became our new norm for nap and night time.

I can't be thankful enough for such a simple, yet bittersweet, end. I'm thankful that I wasn't pushed to the point where I felt that I needed to wean. I'm so thankful that I had the foresight that our last time could be our last time, so I cherished it.

She is really connecting with her dad more. They have always been very close, but now she will readily accept snuggles from him for nap/night time, where it used to only be me and there was no substitute. We can now very easily share our parenting roles, whereas it was plain fact that bringing her to sleep was a job that only I could do.

Over the last weeks I've been reflecting on how this changes me as a parent. I had the fleeting thought that in some ways I felt like I no longer 'count' as an attachment parent. Isn't that silly? The core of AP is how we connect with our kids - which includes how we feed them and how they sleep, but it's not limited to that. The end (or for some - it never began) of breastfeeding doesn't dis-include one from being an AP parent. My connection with my child has now evolved, which is how it's supposed to be! I gave her autonomy in choosing when she was going to be done, even though at times the costs to me seemed great, and it ended up being such a peaceful transition. My heart is full of gratitude and wonderful memories of our special bond together.

Share your weaning experience!

Pierogie Babies - 29 weeks and a few worries

I looked at the calendar the other day and realized that I'm 29 weeks. Yikes. I guess I stopped keeping track somewhere and figured I was around 25. Those 4 weeks can really sneak up on ya!

Ruby

Overall feeling great, this was the case with Penny's pregnancy as well. I'm eating well, have good energy most days and feeling tons of kicks, bubbles, hiccups and flips from little Ruby. She is definitely like her older sister as she's successfully lodged her butt into my right rib cage and is perfectly happy hanging out that way.

I've completed one of my biggest goals in preparing for her arrival - I can safely announce that we have a sufficient (well, more than sufficient!) cloth diaper stash for both girls. I started cloth diapering Penny when she was about 3 weeks old using a diaper service and this time around I wanted to have our own newborn stash as we do plan to have more children, should the Lord provide us with more. Black Friday and Cyber Monday were two shopping days that I was really trying to avoid getting into the hype over but I picked up about 14 diapers for a really good deal and along with a couple other projects in the works - we are good in the diaper department. That's a BIG check on my list.

Thinking ahead...eventually the girls will share a room and I wanted to take this time to begin crafting their special sister room - check out my work in progress Pinterest Sister Room Inspiration board. I've been keeping my eye out for a cheap, solid wood dresser that has 6-8 drawers that I can put both of the girls' clothes in and refurbish, kind of like how That Mama Gretchen took an upcycled dresser and did a fabulous Annie Sloan paint job. So I've been keeping my out on the good old List of Craig's and popping into our thrift store every other week or so.

A little doubt creeping in my mind has been the uncertainty of Ruby's birth. Penny's was so smooth (here's her birth story) and went exactly how we wanted it to go. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect birth. I wish it would be easy enough to take this as a precedent for how my future births go, but of course that's not the case. Each birth, child and circumstances are different, and of course my body has changed. I feel really confident in knowing how to give birth and how to cope with the natural pains of giving birth, but big part of me wonders what is in store for us. What happens if Ruby isn't positioned as ideally as Penny was?  I need to put these doubts to rest and trust that everything will work out - because it will.

Romeo

A couple weeks ago I had to make the hardest decision I have ever made. Our 13 year old dog, Romeo, was beginning to falter. His good days were being quickly overtaken by sore, tired days. It was getting harder and harder for him to get up and go outside, and the weekend before Thanksgiving he began to lose his continence. It's so sad that our lives are made so comfortable these days that our bodies will often hold out longer than they should - pets and people. We could have found a way to make it work. We could have let this go on, perhaps for months, like this. But we didn't want to remember him like that. Romeo, with the heart of pure gold and book mark in my life story, needed to rest, and his body wasn't going to let him anytime soon. So with a few nights of dedicated family time, we said our goodbyes to our sweet boy and let him go. xxoo

Penny

On to Miss Penny. Some cute things I want to be sure I remember..

• her new favorite food and word is "meat," (for ham). She's now started referring to herself as "Meaty," as she hasn't called herself "Penny" yet.
• she has a collection of stuffed frogs whom are called "Mama Buddy," "Daddy Buddy" and 2 "Bebe Buddy"s. It's too freaking adorable.
• this girl has her ABCs down! She can recognize numbers 1-8 (not say all of them yet) and recognize an array of colors too.
• sometimes in the middle of the night she wakes up, calls for one of us and just asks for a hug. Melts my heart.
• Her new BFF is Squirt, whom she calls "Wurt." She's really taken a new interest in him over the last month. 
• Every time she sees my growing belly she gently pats it and says "baby," and has been giving it kisses.

Normally I know that I am a very confident parent. I have very little 'second guesses' about if I feel like Adam and I have made the right choices and overall I just like to let things flow out of Penny as they naturally do. I let her do a lot of the leading in her development, which I have found to be extremely beneficial when we started night weaning while still bed-sharing, transitioned her to her own room, and eventually fully weaned last month (my thoughts on that to come). But there is something that has been burrowing in the corner of my mind and I'm not sure how I feel about it. 

Penny loves her mama. She loves her daddy dearly. But she definitely prefers mama. Most days, I love it and find ways to still cook, clean, do my own little projects with her hanging on me like a baby koala. In September I started going to our local MOPS group and put Penny in the situation where she was left alone with a stranger while I took my mom-time. The weeks have been off and on with her tolerance level, but they always begin or end with tears. Sometimes tears in the middle, where mama comes to her rescue and brings her to our MOPS table where we keep her quiet and pacified with a snack.  I know it's a phase...but it really makes me worry about how she will react to having less mama time when Ruby comes. And what that means about limiting me in the things that I want to do in my free time away from the kids. I keep reminding myself that it's only a few years that the kids will want me like this. But there are those days where I don't feel like being 110% there for you mama and I want to do non-mama things. Like go have a coffee, or see a movie - obligation free. Not feeling like I owe someone for this great, simple gift of watching my child for me. Or simply feel ok in leaving my daughter in a room with other children to play. Fairly normal things in life that I haven't really done for the last almost 2 years. 

It's funny because most days I don't miss those things at all. I don't miss sleeping in (too much), I don't miss "getting" to sit at my desk at work, checking my emails with a cup of coffee and my dogs at my feet. Those days are over, I am completely content with that transition in my life. But in anticipation of bringing another child into my life and taking on the responsibility of also being 110% there for you mama - I wonder how I will fare with that. Will I still love being a stay at home mom with two little girls under two just as much as I did with one?

The day to day stuff is easy. I know I'll eventually figure out how to take my circus of a family to the grocery store and gracefully battle through toddler impatience and the difficulty of juggling an infant. It's those times when I want a time out that I wonder how I'll be able to do it, without abandoning my foundation as an attachment parent. Without resorting to 'well, just let her deal with it - she needs to grow up eventually. She can't have her mama all the time.' But the thing is... she can, and I want her to have me as much as she wants me. But where do I play in? Code Name: Mama wrote about the importance of doing things for yourself (and how it doesn't make you a bad AP parent) that I am trying to keep in my mind during this phase, as well as this well traveled post on how your two year old just needs you sometimes.

I'd love to hear some encouragement from mamas of littles 

who stay at home and have battled these same difficulties and guilts.

Bamboobies and SleepBuddy giveaway!

This post was originally published as a part of the Natural Bump and Baby Giveaway Hop.

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I feel like I'm in a really interesting position in my mamahood - I'm expecting #2 and my toddler just turned a year and a half old.. Where is the time flying?

So these days when I do my research I am looking at newborn and toddler products, activities and clothes. Thus, it reflects on the blog with what I share with you :)

In celebration of two milestones in my mamahood, I'm giving away two products that have been a huuuuuuuuge support for me in the past and one that is currently helping Penny with her night time independence.

Read my Bamboobies leak proof review

Read our journey to more independent sleep 

for the previously bed-sharing toddler with the help of SleepBuddy.

Are you interested in having your product, service or business featured on The Pierogie Mama? Contact me here.

Helping the bedsharing toddler transition to independent sleep with SleepBuddy

From day 1 to day 558 Penny slept in our bed with us. I loved bed sharing; it helped us maintain a solid nursing schedule, gave us a little extra family snuggle time during the period where Adam was commuting over 4 hours a day, and most of all.. I had such peace of mind. I knew my little one was close, safe and I could be there for her immediately should anything go wrong.

But right after her 15 month birthday we learned that little Miss Penny was not going to be the one and only for that much longer. We learned that after literally a month of TTC, we had a Pierogie #2 on the way. By the way, we revealed this little one's gender this past week!

That meant there needed to be some changes in our household before little girl #2 gets here. The biggest change of all... mama and daddy needed their bed space back. I also felt that Penny was ready to begin to night wean - and let's be serious here - nursing through the first trimester was tough work, and the night time nursings were the first that I had to cut out in order to get the rest I needed.

So between her 15th and 18th month we began the process of fully night weaning and transitioning her to more independent sleep by having her spend as much of the night as possible in a pack n play in our bed room. Each one of those steps was met with a little bit of push back, but ultimately she adjusted within a few nights and we all started to sleep better.

The final change was when we moved into our new home. Penny got a big girl bed and I cautiously laid her down in it on our second night. She fell asleep without any worry - but I slept with baited breath. Was she going to wake up screaming, terrified, that she's in a new house, not in her pack n play and her parents are no where around? Truth be told, she woke up several times, but never once with an ounce of fear in her voice as she called for me.

As the weeks passed by, she continued to stay in her room for most of the night but the wake ups for back rubs and rocking increased. There was a 2 week stint where I think I would have gotten more sleep if I had a newborn instead of a toddler. It was rough. I had to look into options on what we can do to gently show Penny that it's time for sleep.

This photo wasn't edited - the brightness and color you see is representative of SleepBuddy at its brightest setting

When I found the SleepBuddy, I had a feeling this would be it. I had looked into other night-light timing systems / clocks, but they all had almost scary looking faces of celestial bodies and most featured a clock face. Penny is too young for a clock face and I wanted something simple, well designed and easy to understand. So the SleepBuddy arrived at our home and we put her to use!

SleepBuddy is a complete sleep system designed to help teach your children when they should be staying in bed, and when they can get up. The process is simple for you and fun for your children.

Penny's night time routine adapted to the flow of our new home. Around 7pm we start a bath, which she plays in for about 15-20 minutes. Around 7:15p her SleepBuddy light turns on, casting a gentle blue glow throughout her room. "Penny, do you see that? It's time for nigh-night!" We tell her. So we read a few books in her somewhat dim room, give some last minute kisses and hugs to Daddy. Then Penny and mama have our last few minutes of time together for the evening - usually a 20-30 minute nursing session and she usually lays down somewhat awake. Sometimes it takes a little bit of patting, singing or additional rocking.

Since establishing the presence of the SleepBuddy, Penny's night time wakings have been less frequent and much shorter. Sometimes when she wakes up she just points to the SleepBuddy and sleepily reminds me that it's 'nigh-night!' Most nights she just needs to be laid back down in her bed and given a rub for a few minutes and I can quietly exit. Our next step will be to helping her stay in bed until the SleepBuddy shuts off in the morning. I'm not sure that she is developmentally ready for it yet, but until then the 6am wake up call and snuggles in the big bed for another hour suit us just fine.

SleepBuddy was developed by fellow mom, Laura, a certified child sleep consultant. Like so many other parents, she struggled with her son refusing to stay in bed during naps and night time. She developed this very simple and easy to use light to help him and other children grow towards independent sleep. As your child grows older, you can also use the included rewards chart for positive reinforcement.

Connect with SleepBuddy via Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Interested in trying one out? 

Win a SleepBuddy here!
Don't miss out -
facebook //  twitter // bloglovin

Disclosure: Thank you, SleepBuddy for helping Penny bravely transition into her own room.
Product was provided for review purposes, but all opinions are my own.

What's up with The Pierogie Babies?

I used to be so good about keeping up with Penny updates on at least a monthly basis.. But then as soon as her baby book switched from monthly updates to annual, my updates here sort of fell off the radar.

So the last update was in June -  15 months. And she's going to be 19 months old next week. And I'm 17 weeks pregnant with #2. Oy. So here's some things going on in Penny's life and an update on the pregnancy.

TV Friends:
Until very recently, Elmo was Penny's BFF. At the start of my pregnancy when I was laid out on the couch, we spent an embarrassing amount of time watching Sesame Street. I'm ok with it. It was a short period of time and regardless of what others may say - I think there is definitely a level of educational value in watching certain shows for children. Especially for one who is at home with mama 24/7 and does not interact with other children terribly often. Which we're changing.

Penny very quickly grew attached to "Elvo" (which graduated to "Elbo" and is now officially pronounced "ELLLLLLLLLLL MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!") and it was the easiest way for me to catch a snooze for about 45 minutes and just try to get through the first trimester yuckies.

Then when we moved into our new house and we didn't have cable for a couple weeks, I pulled out a dvd called "Juno Baby: Indie's Teddy Bear Hunt" that I had bought before she was born. It's won some Emmys for original musical performance and whatnot, which having been a music major in a past life I have an appreciation for. The voices are annoying comical but now she asks for "kitty!" in the morning instead of her beloved Elmo. She's caught on to a few things from the movie that are absolutely adorable (popping out from behind a curtain and saying "Boo!" or dancing along with classical music) so I tolerate the silly voices and use that time to catch up throughout the house.

Favorite Foods:
This girl LOVES apples. She's gotten really good at demolishing an entire large apple on her own. I prefer to at least peal off the skin for her, but most days she doesn't mind and will literally gnaw the entire thing away if I let her. This is something that has come in handy during road trips. Other favorites include hummus, peanut butter, yogurt, french bread, peas, roasted butternut squash mixed with applesauce, slices of Parmesan cheese, crepes with spiced pear sauce and pistachios.

Activities: 
Putting coins in her piggy bank (which she calls "monies")
Hide and seek
Throwing the ball for Squirt
Reading books with Daddy before bedtime
Organizing / moving things around
Not favorite: grocery shopping. Not in the least bit.

Talking:
In addition to the few words that I already mentioned, she can say -
'pretty' = flowers
'bunny'
'ohh nooo!'
'sheeeze' = cheese
'yum - yum' = food
'juice'
'wirsty' = thirsty
'uh-cooo' =  uncle
'a-teees' = auntie
'gack' = cousin Jack and 'zeeekeeys' = cousin Zeke - her two cousins that she sees most often
'bay-zha' = Babcia and 'vovo' = Vovo, her maternal grandparents

New animal sounds: owl, bee, monkey, elephant, train (choot-choot), sheep, and we're working on saying the words 'goat' and 'goose.' She can point out a ton of different animals, even after only showing her once.
Then she's got this word that seems to be a catch all and it seriously sounds like she's saying bourgeois.

MOPS
Something new that I've signed us up for is the MOPS group at a church close to us. I've wanted to do MOPS with her forever, but the living situation over the last year made me disinterested in making the effort in joining a group, making friends and then possibly moving away. I'm such an introvert sometimes. But once we bought this house I knew we were going to put down roots. So last week we went to our first MOPS meeting and Penny spent her first 2 hours being watched by a stranger. I had zero worries. With #2 on the way, it's important to me that she can branch out socially with other kids and be ok with not having an immediate family member always being the one to watch her. We also want to start going back to church regularly so that'll be another opportunity for her to be independent and make new friends. And she did so well. She was one girl with 12 boys (story of her life - she's surrounded by boy cousins too!) and was really good with sharing.

In regards to my experience at MOPS, I felt so welcomed and supported. Our table has 8 women and 3 of us are pregnant. Each mom had at least 2 kids and at least one of them is within Penny's age range too. I feel so blessed to get the opportunity to know these women and draw on their experiences as moms. I am really looking forward to next week's meeting.

Quick other updates:
As I've mentioned before, Penny sleeps alone in her room in her big girl bed. The transition has been both easy and hard. Easy in the sense that she never woke up in the middle of the night terrified and wanting to return to our bed. Hard because she wakes sometimes 4 times per night just wanting a back rub. And her wake up time is between 5:30-6a when she wants to nurse...and unfortunately I am in the stage of my pregnancy where my supply is almost non-existent. I've started giving her raw whole milk throughout the day and making sure that she gets a really good, high calorie snack before bed time to help her through the night. But the morning routine is tough because I'm battling being tired due to the pregnancy and waking up throughout the night and she gets frustrated about the lack of milk. It's something we're working on figuring out.

And then there's the topic of Penny's hair. Yes, I am making a specific comment about her hair! The poor girl is so fair haired and it's taken her almost the full 19 months for her to have any hair to speak of. Now she's got this cute little plume / faux hawk going on and even has some hair over the collar of her shirt. Bring on the hair clips!

Pierogie #2
Admittedly I haven't had too much to say about this baby on the blog yet. The second trimester has been so low key and until recently I've felt 'pre-pregnant.' But now that bump has appeared and gets in my way at night so it's starting to feel very real now.

I had my 17 week appointment with the midwife this week and this was the second appointment where we heard the heartbeat. I've felt little bumps in the last couple weeks but with the Doppler pressed up against me I was able to feel a few more profound kicks. Baby's heart rate was in the 150's, as was Penny's.

We scheduled our ultrasound for October 9th and will be hosting a laid-back gender reveal party on the 13th with our family and close friends. It'll be a mix of reveal, house warming and just a plain old get together.

And that's what's going on with these Pierogie babies!

Monthly Its: Aug

This month I want to introduce to you StarGazer soaps - some beautifully awesome delicious smelling soaps that I will be writing about (and giving away!!) in the coming weeks. Check out her youtube page for some fun videos on how she makes her beautiful soaps. Each one is unique - you won't find soaps like these anywhere else!

My name is Nicole, and I am a soap maker! 

I began making soap to try to save my family some money.  As a busy stay at home mom of 5, every penny counts!  While doing my research, I learned all about commercial soap, and what they put in it.  This reaffirmed my decision to make my own soap.  I didn't want my children bathing in chemicals.  I didn't count on how much I would fall in love with soaping.  When I make soap, it is always a surprise.  Each bar is unique, and one of a kind.  Since I began soaping, I have never looked back.  I couldn't imagine spending money on commercial soap again.

From my family to yours, 

we hope you love our soap as much as we do!

Nicole Farrell, Owner & Creator

Stargazer Soaps

Ok some of my favorite posts from the last few weeks:

You read about my experience with bed sharing (and how we're transitioning to more independent sleep with night weaning), here is a story from another mama who's family of 4 cosleeps.

Tantrums are no fun. Penny has started to simply drop to the floor in defiance, but there are times where her frustration comes out in angry, swinging hits. These 6 tips for gentle responses to these big feelings are a great way to help calm our little ones.

Did you have a special evening every week that was reserved for family dinners? The older I get, the more I really appreciate them for what they are. As Penny grows, I hope that we can arrange for extended family dinners once a month, so that she and her cousins can reconnect on a less formal basis that holiday dinners.

Oh em gee - Pizza braids! Check out my homemade pizza pinterest board for some pinspiration :)

Finally, who can resist an easy Pioneer Woman recipe? Cinnamon crisps are an anytime snack in my book, but how about dessert for the next taco night?

Our Nightweaning Journey

Just after Penny's 16th month milestone, I decided it was time to nightwean, which is also a stepping stone to the end of our bed sharing journey. This decision came from many places, the least of all being the quality of my personal sleep. I completely believe that night nursing and bed sharing has given Penny and I more sleep than if I had tried to make her last through the night earlier or if we had moved her out of our bed.

The problem was that she's a little wiggleworm. And she was starting to all out yell at night when she wanted to nurse. It went from gentle stirring and maybe a squeak to wake me up to an instant demand for attention. It was wearing on both Adam and I, him more so as he needs to get up to go to work in the morning. So the decision was made that with our impending move (in hopefully a month), she would be transitioning into her own room at the new house.

Penny normally nursed 3-5 times during the night, most often between the hours of 1 and 5a. When others ask me about Penny's sleep habits and if she "sleeps through the night," I have such a hard time responding. Yes, she does sleep well. I don't have to fully wake up to lull her back to sleep and I feel like she is a "happy sleeper" most of the time. She doesn't get up to party and never has confused night time versus day time. It's overall been a great experience, except with the recent wiggling / night yelling that she has started doing over the last almost 2 months.

I decided that the natural first step to transitioning her into her own space at night was to night wean. My hope is to slowly build her night time independence by giving her less of a reason to wake up. I plan to continue to nurse her throughout the day, as she requests, and will nurse at bed time. Some nights she passes out while nursing, other nights she's still a little awake and I've had success in laying her down in the pack n play that is in our bedroom. She normally naps in it and for the last 3 months or so she begins the night there too. Usually around 1 or so she would wake up and cry to be brought into the bed, and we'd oblige.

When I started night weaning, as expected the first couple nights were rough. She would awaken during her normal times when she would want to nurse, and I would gently have to tell her that "milk has gone ni-night" and that "Penny needs to go ni-night too." This was met with extreme frustration on her part. I'd rub her back and sing to her and eventually she would settle down and lay her head on my pillow or her own and we'd fall asleep again. It would be a very light sleep for her, and if I moved then she'd awaken and we'd have to start all over. I promised her that as soon as the sun came up, milk would wake up and she can have some.

Nights 3 and 4 got progressively better, with her accepting sooner that milk had gone to sleep and that she should too. I started keeping a sippy with water and a banana on my nightstand so that I can offer either to her if she was really struggling to go to sleep. My biggest fear was that she was truly hungry and I was denying her for too long. Some nights she will take a sip of water, other nights she declines (with a very groggy "thank you" sign, totally melts my heart).

Night 5 though, I feel like we had a true breakthrough. She slept in her pack n play from about 7:30 to close to 5a. She stirred a couple times and I got up and rubbed her back for a second, but she didn't need it. I was so proud of my little one! My fears of her being hungry throughout the night are quelled and I think we all will flourish from this transition.

It's been about 2 weeks of this process and she doesn't ask for milk very often at night anymore. She still comes into our bed between 1-3 and has only slept that one night entirely in the pack n play.

Did you night wean a co-sleeping toddler? How did you do it?

I found this article by Dr. Jay Gordon to be really helpful.