Saturday, November 1, 2008

cry baby cry

it's been a long hard week over here at Casa Diva... Chewie's got it in his adorable little mind that he needs...nay MUST nurse to fall asleep EVERY SINGLE TIME!!! and as much as i'd love for him to keep sucking on those puppies, the chapped nipple in me screams out NO!!

So, i've been attempting to do some kind of weaning up in here, and he is by far a very UNhappy customer. In fact, this very second - as i type this - the cute little monster is trapped in his crib, crying cuz he wants me to come up there and nurse him... but i'm letting him try to discover his own soothing method...

so far - nothing seems to have come up.

i find it extremely difficult to go in there and 'reassure him' without actually picking him up. and it's even harder for me to listen to him cry, knowing that in the short run i can make him feel better... but there's that 'long run' off in the distance saying; "don't give in"....

i'm forcing myself to stay here and type so i'm not tempted to go in there too soon.

it's so very emotionally draining to hear someone you love soooo much sound so unhappy, without the communication skills to tell him that he'll really honestly be okay falling asleep without mom's nipple in his mouth...

it seems that everytime he sort of winds down, he somehow finds the energy for more tears and more crying... sad little guy...

do i give in?

do i really want to start doing this tonight?

i know that he'll forget all of this eventually, forget that one time when he needed me to make him feel safe and calm, i didn't come....

but those screams.... they hurt my heart.

sad.

okay, ten minutes is up.... time to go 'reassure him' that i'm still here and that i still love him...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh that sucks. I have been there - with my older boy when he was 10 months old.

I tried when he was 3, 4, 5 months but he wasn't ready and neither was I. At 10 I was done spending the majority of my time getting him to sleep and the "training" took.

But every baby (and mama) is different. Good luck. These (3-6) are hard months IME. It will get better.

Anonymous said...

Awww. I don't know if this will work for you as everyone is different, but it's worth a try - my niece did it successfully with her two kids. Every time you feed him, make sure you use a very distinctive blankie or have him hold a certain stuffed animal and make sure it somehow touches his skin - cheek or hand. When you put him down, always give him that same stuffed animal or blankie from nursing as a comfort device and make sure it is touching his skin again. Yes, it's simply substituting, but in my opinion there is nothing wrong with that for such a little one and they can give up the stuffed animal or blankie later. Besides, he's not really crying for lack of food - it's just the comfort thing most likely and he will associate that blankie or stuffed animal with the comfort you provide him. Hope it helps. :) Hugs to you.

Surprised Suburban Wife said...

Agreed that these are the tough months. And little ones just LOVE falling asleep on the boob, don't they? Stay strong...but at the same time remember that he will only be this small and easily satisfied for a very short part of his life. I know - inconsistency goes against everything "the books" say, but I cherish those verboten snuggles and feeds:)

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