Help!

Alright... I need some advice! So we've been tackling the sleeping thing and now there's no more night feeds. The poppet - almost 18 months - is often waking up early in the mornings but I can handle that (thanks hubby). But lately, he's been wanting to breastfeed more often during the day. Usually, I feed him in the morning, before his lunchtime nap and then again before bedtime and he's been happy with that. But lately, he's constantly grabbing me, hands down my shirt, head in my chest, crying and cranky if I refuse. What's that about?
My theory is that he's taking pretty big developmental steps at the moment and so is checking in for regular comfort and respite from his big new world. But it's come at a time when I'm thinking about weaning him off the boob for good, which is seeming less and less likely or possible!
He's cranky and tantrum-y too lately, which is very unlike him. Perhaps just an age thing?

Anyone else had this experience? Ideas? Theories?
I'm feeling a lack of energy to tackle it at the moment, and am needing some outside help. But the internet overwhelms me for things like this and I seem to be the only one of my mummy friends still breastfeeding, so I thought I'd check in here!
I'd love to hear your thoughts...

Sleep updates (and others)

* photo from last Christmas at the beach house, courtesy of a sneaky hubby. 

A little while ago, I posted about starting a new sleep plan after having had the little fella in our bed and waking up every two or three hours for a feed, since he was born (almost 17 months ago). We were happy to keep him in our bed, but it was time to do some night weening, so that he wasn't waking so regularly for the boob. A friend of mine put me onto this article, and so we bit the bullet and put some changes in place. There were a couple of hard nights initially, as both Leo and I got used to not having the magic potion to get him back to sleep quickly and easily. But, amazingly, he adapted quite quickly and even after a couple of nights, was sleeping for longer periods. And it didn't take long (about 10 nights) for... drum roll please... the little man to be sleeping through the night!!

Woo Hoo!

If you're in this boat, ie. you're doing an attachment parenting kind of thing, but are at the point of going a bit nutty with all the night wake ups, I would recommend having a read through the article and giving it a go. It really wasn't as painful or as protracted as I thought it would be, and although there was a bit of crying and fussing involved, even that wasn't too bad. We just cuddled through it.
Please note... I'm not having a go at those who do the cry it out method. It just wasn't for us.

So the take home message... it IS possible to do attachment parenting AND have a good night's sleep at the same time. Even if it does take 17 months to get here! (though really, we could have done this ages ago).

And in other updates:
Amazing news... You may recall, that I posted here about losing a quilt in the post. Well, over two months later, it has turned up! Yes indeed, it's the prodigal quilt. Bananas.

xx

A bit of a sleep related post...

So, after 15 months of co-sleeping and regular nighttime waking and feeding, the time has come to make some changes. The co-sleeping will continue but I am feeling the need for a full night's sleep - it's been two years (counting pregnancy night wakings!) and I'm a bit over it. Don't get me wrong, I have really enjoyed the way we have night parented (did I just coin a new term?) and I actually feel like I have slept pretty well since he was born, as well as having created a beautiful attachment with our little one. But it's just reached a point where I feel that I'm ready to have a bit more of a normal night's sleep. And perhaps an extra glass of wine in the evenings!

And so, the tumultuousness that is night weaning has begun.

Last night was our first night of The Plan. And I was taken back to the early months of walking up and down our apartment in the middle of the night rocking a baby boy in my arms. A little observation... 15 month toddlers are a LOT heavier than newborns.

Anyway, we survived the night with a few tears (from both of us), a bit of a sore back from above mentioned midnight wanderings and an hour or two less sleep than usual. But hopefully, it's the first step towards a better night's sleep for everyone.

I'm kind of writing this here to keep myself accountable, because it's hard work and in the middle of the night, it's very tempting to go back to the usual way of doing things. But I want to be able to look back in a couple of weeks time and see that the effort put in now has been worth it.

Wish us luck...

so cute. and so cheeky (and with a face recently planted firmly in the dirt).