Monday, April 14, 2008

Weaning, Finally??

The past two nights Emma has slept completely through the night. By completely, I mean till 8 am or later, not coming in just before dawn, not waking around midnight--just sleeping, the way a girl of her age should. On Sunday she came into bed after 8:00, and because I wanted to sleep a bit more, I pulled up my shirt and let her nurse a bit. We were cuddling, and soon Ben came in to warm his freezing feet. I told him that Emma slept all night and he asked her if she was going to wean.

She said she already had. I said, "You know weaning means you never nurse, right? Not even just a little."

She looked at me with her big blue eyes and said, "If I'm a big girl, why did you offer it to me?"

I told her I was being nice, but any old time now she could wean. (If she weans any time before June 22, Ben will take the title of Longest Nurser, as he weaned on June 4, one day less than 2 months before his 4th birthday.) Today, after she'd slept through another night, Rachel asked her if she was weaning, and she said yes. She said she wants to go to sleep like a big girl, no nursing, just reading. We talked about weaning presents (which is kind of a bribe to get them to stop but I could not care less!) and tried to remember what Julia's and Ben's weaning presents had been---isn't it funny? I remember they were "big" gifts (not just a crummy toy but something really desirable) but had no idea what they were. Maybe I wrote it in their baby books! Once Emma heard that, she got a huge smile and wanted to know if we could go to the store and pick a weaning present.

I had to tell her that to get the weaning present, she had to truly wean--no nursing for a whole week. She said she's doing it. And she went to sleep without nursing tonight! The hard part will be if she wakes in the night...it will be hard for us to remember weaning presents half asleep! But I will keep you posted! Wish me luck......the endless nursing run could be ending sooner than I think.

--Jen

3 comments:

Chloe [-headbang-] said...

Whoo! Go Emma!

I'm bet you're glad she's trying to wean, huh, Aunt Jen? ^^

--Chloe

Nan Patience said...

Good luck! Sounds like you can suckle on a high-test cocktail or two one day very soon!

Jen said...

I am SO glad she's finally ready! It's a little sad, knowing that I'll never have another baby--but considering she isn't a baby, I am definitely ready for this stage to be over!

About the alcohol--I never worried about that except when they were infants under a year. Even then, I'd have wine, no problem. After a year old, I'd have up to 2 "real" drinks with no problem--if anything, they got a bit sleepy! Considering the old "whiskey on the gums" thing they used to do for teething, I never worried!!!

Jen