The Joys of Weaning

I hate weaning.  It's so hard.  I remember weaning Dexter from breastfeeding to a sippy cup. Not fun at all.  I remember weaning Echo from breastfeeding to a bottle (because she wasn't getting enough calories from my milk and losing weight due to my being pregnant).  She refused a bottle for TEN DAYS!  It was rough to say the least!

Despite those hard times, they were eventually weaned.  Hooray for success!

I have two more success stories for you.

First Echo's pacifier.  

 This actually happened at the end of Summer, but I kept forgetting to blog about it, so here it is several months late.  I have never had to wean a kid from pacifiers before.  Corbin and Dexter refused them.  Ivy became disinterested around six months (I think it had to do with her oral aversion), and Malcolm took them for a while, but never really got addicted, and started spitting them out around 9 months.  Echo is my one and only child to become hopelessly addicted.  She had paci's stashed all over the house.  She wouldn't nap or go to bed without one.  She needed one anytime she was sad, or in need of comfort.  But she was already two and I feared how hard it would be to take them away if I let her keep them much longer.  So, I started slow by taking them away anytime she wasn't sleeping.  There was one problem.  Every time I turned around she'd have one.  She kept finding them in her secret hiding places.  So I'd just collect them in a plastic baggie and hide them in a drawer.

Eventually they stopped turning up and I cut her off from having them at naps and bedtime too.  It wasn't that hard.  Since she didn't have it during the day, she didn't really notice when she laid down for nap or bedtime that she didn't have one.  Sometimes she'd notice and cry and beg, and I'd give in, but after just a few days, she stopped asking and completely forgot about them.  It was so much easier than I anticipated!  She has now been cured of her paci addiction for several months!

Next up is weaning Malcolm from his bottle.  

I did nurse Malcolm, but at about 7 months, he started preferring his bottle (I think because of the freedom it provided, he's a mover).  My milk went way down to nothing so he switched to the bottle full time by 8 months.  He has loved that bottle.  I tried to take it away when he turned a year, but he would have none of that.  He'd flip out and totally refuse all sippy cups, and I'd give in and give him the bottle for fear of dehydration.  He had won.

Fast forward to this week.  Malcolm is 15 months old.  I have been feeling like a bad mom at church when we'd see the other (younger) babies with their sippy cups and Malcolm still had that bottle.  The pediatrician recommended at his year appointment that I wean and here it is, time for his 15 month appointment and I still hadn't done it.  So I cracked down.  I ran out of the disposable liners for his nurser-style bottles (The only ones he'll use) on Friday night and refused to buy more.  It was time.  He didn't have a bottle all day on Saturday, and anytime he wanted one we'd give him a sippy cup.  He wasn't happy and would not drink from them.  That night he went to bed ANGRY.  And he stayed ANGRY!  He cried ALL NIGHT LONG!!  At 3am after listening to his crying non-stop for over an hour, I got up and took him to the rocking chair.  He dozed on and off but mostly squirmed and whined. I tried to feed him (thinking maybe he was just hungry), but he refused to eat.  I offered the sippy cup, but he'd throw it in an act of defiance.  By 6:15am with only 45 minutes left until I had to get up for church and with almost no sleep, I had had enough.  I put him in his room, closed the door, closed my own door so I couldn't hear him as well, and went to sleep.  Well, he must have slept because the next thing I knew the kids came in my room asking why we didn't get up for church.  It was 9:50am!  I had slept through the alarm, and Malcolm was asleep too!

Well, we missed church, but Malcolm had grumpily made it a whole day.  Sunday was a little better, he still didn't drink much from the sippy, but no longer threw it in anger.  He also loved drinking water out of a regular cup.  Sunday night he cried only once the whole night.  It felt like a huge victory.  And now today, he's already done drinking one sippy cup.  Its too soon to call him weaned, but we are well on our way!