Growing Up
I've still been working with Baby E on decreasing the frequency and length of her nursing sessions.
By this point I am just so ready for us to be done nursing. I've managed to make it through 4 and 1/2 years of nursing 3 kids even though I've never really enjoyed it, and we're long past the "as long as mutually desired by mother and child" point.
She's been down to nursing 2-4 times per day for quite a while now, but if it was solely up to her she would be nursing more often and wouldn't be thinking about weaning anytime soon.
Today I tried something I'd read about somewhere: I made two "coins" out of lids covered with aluminum foil and put them in a box on the table for her. I told her that those were her nursing coins, and that she could use them to buy milk. Whenever she wanted to nurse, she needed to pay me a coin and when they were gone, that would be all the milk for that day. She could decide when she wanted to spend them.
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She was quite excited about that idea, and happily gave me one of the coins this morning to nurse. Several times during the rest of the day, she asked for milk. But when I reminded her that she would have to give me her second coin and that would be the last milk for today, she changed her mind. I offered to spend some time cuddling with her or reading to her instead and she opted for that.
Tonight, she was again lamenting the fact that she doesn't get to go to AWANA like the older girls. She so badly wants to be able to go. So we stopped on the way out from picking up the big girls to talk to the Cubbies leader. The leader said that, actually, they do encourage the kids around Baby E's age to start visiting the class with a parent. That way when they are 3 and are old enough to be in the class, they'll already be comfortable in the environment and know what to expect.
So I told Baby E that she can start going to Cubbies, but Cubbies is only for big kids. When she is a big girl who doesn't drink milk from Mommy any more, then she can go to Cubbies. When she has gone a week without nursing, Daddy or I will take her to AWANA.
She was so excited about that idea that she decided she wanted to start right away, tonight. So I gave her a bedtime massage with some nice lotion instead of nursing her. That seemed to help a lot.
I'm realizing that in order to smooth the transition away from nursing, we're going to need to find other ways to meet her tactile needs. I think a large part of her difficulty with giving up nursing has been that she just really needs that extra cuddling and skin contact. I think that for her it's more about that than about the milk.
She's also still doing really well with potty training. I did put a Pull-Up on her when we went out to run errands today, and it was a good thing I did. Poor thing--the few blueberries I'd let her have earlier today gave her pretty bad diarrhea. She told me that she needed to go potty, but we weren't where we had access to a restroom and by the time we got home it was a bit too late.
Diarrhea is an exception, though. Most of the time she's doing really great using the potty. Last night she even wore regular underwear to bed ("puhple undew-weaw") and kept it dry all night.
Baby E is really not a baby any more.
By this point I am just so ready for us to be done nursing. I've managed to make it through 4 and 1/2 years of nursing 3 kids even though I've never really enjoyed it, and we're long past the "as long as mutually desired by mother and child" point.
She's been down to nursing 2-4 times per day for quite a while now, but if it was solely up to her she would be nursing more often and wouldn't be thinking about weaning anytime soon.
Today I tried something I'd read about somewhere: I made two "coins" out of lids covered with aluminum foil and put them in a box on the table for her. I told her that those were her nursing coins, and that she could use them to buy milk. Whenever she wanted to nurse, she needed to pay me a coin and when they were gone, that would be all the milk for that day. She could decide when she wanted to spend them.
######################
She was quite excited about that idea, and happily gave me one of the coins this morning to nurse. Several times during the rest of the day, she asked for milk. But when I reminded her that she would have to give me her second coin and that would be the last milk for today, she changed her mind. I offered to spend some time cuddling with her or reading to her instead and she opted for that.
Tonight, she was again lamenting the fact that she doesn't get to go to AWANA like the older girls. She so badly wants to be able to go. So we stopped on the way out from picking up the big girls to talk to the Cubbies leader. The leader said that, actually, they do encourage the kids around Baby E's age to start visiting the class with a parent. That way when they are 3 and are old enough to be in the class, they'll already be comfortable in the environment and know what to expect.
So I told Baby E that she can start going to Cubbies, but Cubbies is only for big kids. When she is a big girl who doesn't drink milk from Mommy any more, then she can go to Cubbies. When she has gone a week without nursing, Daddy or I will take her to AWANA.
She was so excited about that idea that she decided she wanted to start right away, tonight. So I gave her a bedtime massage with some nice lotion instead of nursing her. That seemed to help a lot.
I'm realizing that in order to smooth the transition away from nursing, we're going to need to find other ways to meet her tactile needs. I think a large part of her difficulty with giving up nursing has been that she just really needs that extra cuddling and skin contact. I think that for her it's more about that than about the milk.
She's also still doing really well with potty training. I did put a Pull-Up on her when we went out to run errands today, and it was a good thing I did. Poor thing--the few blueberries I'd let her have earlier today gave her pretty bad diarrhea. She told me that she needed to go potty, but we weren't where we had access to a restroom and by the time we got home it was a bit too late.
Diarrhea is an exception, though. Most of the time she's doing really great using the potty. Last night she even wore regular underwear to bed ("puhple undew-weaw") and kept it dry all night.
Baby E is really not a baby any more.
Labels: just life, kid stuff, learning
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Posted by purple_kangaroo at 10:34 PM[Permanent link]
5 Comments:
Puhple undew-weaw is definitely the best kind.
Good luck with all the growing up activities. It sounds like you are on your way to having 3 big girls in the family.
Big girl!
That coin idea idea is brilliant. I'll have to remember it.
Madeleine, puhple and lellow are her favorite colors. :)
Liz, it seems like she's growing up so fast.
Swissmiss, it wasn't my idea . . . I read it somewhere.
weaning silas was all about the extra cuddling adn special attention too. sometimes it was much more work to cuddle or think or ways to satisfy that need for closeness than to just give him some milk, but it's the only way i could make it work. That and going for lots of walks, cause being out in teh wide world was much more exciting- also more tiring for mom, but again...- than nursing. good luck! So glad to hear the food allergies seem to have cleared up!!!
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