“When will my toddler sleep through the night?!” You might be totally exhausted from your little one keeping you up all night. Unfortunately, a big part of why your toddler is still waking up is from night feeding.
So what do you do? Night weaning before your toddler gives it up on his own is a big undertaking, and you may be intimidated by starting (I know I have been!).
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If you’ve breastfed your baby to toddlerhood or beyond, congratulations! That’s a huge accomplishment. But eventually, you’re probably going to have questions about toddler weaning.
Will my child ever wean?
How will our relationship change if my toddler weans?
Trust me, I’m a huge breastfeeding advocate. I have breastfed for a solid six years of my life, and I’ve loved it (well, most of it).
But I think the problem is, we’re so focused on encouraging breastfeeding and supporting women in the beginning of their nursing journey that we somewhat abandon them at the end. There is much less support for weaning, a process that is often full of physical and emotional complexities.
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You may not even be able to tell in this picture, but General Leia is nursing here. In fact, it’s a picture of the last time my oldest ever breastfed. We quit because of a phenomenon called nursing aversion.
This was a hard time for me (and for her). I became pregnant with her sister when she was about thirteen months old.
At first, I had no problem with continuing to breastfeed her while pregnant. In fact, breastfeeding was easier because it kept her still, and I didn’t have the energy to chase her! So we would come home from work, we’d cuddle up, and I’d nurse her for as long as I could in the evening. I’d get a break, and she was happy.
And then came nursing aversion. (more…)
When I was pregnant with my oldest daughter in 2013, I had rarely seen baby wearing. But when I read about all the benefits of baby wearing, I knew I wanted to try it!
I bought a few different types of carriers, and I’ll be honest, baby wearing didn’t really work for me at first. But with a little practice, I got better at it, and three children in, I absolutely love baby wearing for all its cuddling opportunities (and convenience)!
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Perhaps you’ve heard of the dreaded sleep regression. Or maybe you’ve heard, “the 4 month sleep regression is a myth!” and you want to punch that person in the face because your experience says otherwise and you are TIRED.
Note: The Evidence-Based Mommy’s official stance is against punching people in the face. Even when you really want to.
Regardless, something like this has happened to you: You and your child had gotten into a predictable sleep routine. Maybe he was sleeping all night, maybe he wasn’t (and that’s okay! No, really.), but you at least knew what to expect.
Then all of the sudden, his sleep drastically changes for the worse.
Like many first-time parents, I was totally clueless when I came home with my first baby. I had at least done enough research expect to not get a lot of sleep, but I had no idea what reality would be like. Little did I know our baby would be co sleeping with us!
My husband and I had made a beautiful nursery for our little girl, but we also had a bassinet in our room. We figured she would stay in that little crib for a few weeks and then we’d get her used to sleeping in her own room. Ha!