My cute little Baby G is just about 14 months now.
This is her and I about 6-7 months ago.
We are still nursing.
About 6-8 times a day.
Yes, she is eating food but she is really more of a grazer.
My biggest conundrum with this is that she wakes 1-2 times every night and I nurse her back to sleep (this usually takes about 5-10 minutes, no drama, no baby wanting to play, she always goes right back to sleep).
This all means one very important thing…I have not slept through the night in over a year.
This makes a mama cranky. And a little crazy. And feeling like she has a constant hangover. Which often leads to hangover-like eating. Think: carbs, fat, salt, and sugar.
Ugh.
I am considering stopping nursing so I can ideally facilitate some hardcore sleeping.
I keep thinking of that Bon Jovi song, ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead.’ But all I can think about is how if I don’t sleep, I WILL be dead and then what’s the point. 
Oh, and I’d love to have 800 margaritas. Okay, maybe just 5.
But I am a big advocate of long-term nursing (however long works for you) and nursed my first daughter, now 7, for 2 years. I know it has a big impact on their health. I know it is great for soothing with teething and when they are cranky.
I really do love doing it.
But I am thinking of stopping.
But then I think, no. This will not be forever and to keep at it for another few months when I intuitively feel she will stop. I really do feel she will stop at around 18 or so months.
Also, I don’t feel great about the bevvies of choice for her to have instead of nursing. All that milk every day? Not a fan. I’ve tried to give her raw cow’s milk and she is not super keen on it. So we’d rotate some boxed milks, rice, coconut, almond, soy/rice blend, keep trying the raw milk, make some of our own ‘milks,’ etc. Truthfully, I’d rather wait on all that.
And would it be any guarantee that she doesn’t wake?
Who knows.
I know we could try all kinds of things, cry-it-out, dad goes in, gradually decreasing nursing and then going in for just a few minutes, etc. etc.
Part of me knows (and truly feels) it won’t be much longer and that I am so happy that it makes her so happy.
The other part of me just wants to sleep.
And have a margarita…or 5.
Any Mamas want to share their experiences?
Not looking for answers, just shared experiences.
Thanks!
Love,
Adrienne
I let my twins cry it out at 4 months and they were fine after a few nights. I continues nursing during the day but they slept from 7 at night until 7 in the morning. That would not help you with the margarita problem but it could help with the sleep problem:)
I am not completely opposed to cry-it-out but we now live in an apartment with our landlord right upstairs. And my girl is v. v. v. stubborn! A one hour cry-it-out at 2am is gonna throw us all over the edge and maybe even out on the street LOL. But we’ll see. We travel in February so I want to wait until we return from there before I do anything.
Oh Adrienne….
I nursed for 17 months, then went on medication and had to stop instantly. Sadie never took a bottle, until she had to that day. Now she’s 2 and will only drink milk from a bottle. It was a relief to not have to make this decision, I don’t envy you.
Also, I can count on 1 hand how many nights she’s slept thru the night, and she’s 26 months old. I know the crazy feeling you’re talking about! Also, I now have grey hair and am convinced I’ve lost IQ points. The under-eye bags have been unpacked and are here to stay. My goal is to figure out the sleep situation and then take on the bottle situation. Good luck to you, these little bundles of cute sure raise big bundles of questions! Looking forward to reading other peoples’ stories!
Hi Adrienne, how are you?
I did nurse my first daughter Sophie until she was almost 2 1/2. My second which is Francesca is 18 months and it has been 2 weeks today that I stopped nursing. uhuuuuuu.. I decided to stop because of the same reasons she waking up 2 times at night and of course I was barely getting 5 hours of sleep. Anyways, the first 5 days was a lot of crying but since 4 days ago she’s been sleepig the whole night, from 7:45 pm to about 5:30 sometimes 6:30 am. I do miss breastfeeding her sometimes but it was a smart decision for me to stop. She does drink goat milk and cow milk as well but she likes goat milk better and she loves plain yogurt with rice or oatmeal cereal. Good luck dear!!! Aloha from Hawaii!!!
Hi Lara and Marcia! Thank you so much for the comments. Everyone has their own challenges and solutions and I think it’s great for Mom’s to discuss stuff that is going on.
Question for Marcia…when you stopped nursing and she cried those first few nights, did you go in? Did the husband? Tell him hi, of course!! Or did you let her cry?
Thanks again and lots of love to you all!
xo
I recently read a great article sharing the reasons we, as with the author of the article, don’t let our child cry it out. I am trying to find it. That being said, the best for one family isn’t the best for the next. Our son has never had a bottle in his mouth and nursed for years. We were blessed! I let him lead weaning. I was still pumped up on Mama-high and was able to not get frustrated at my inconvenience. If this lack of sleep is a big struggle for you ~ then you making changes to make you the best Mom you can be is paramount. Listen to your instincts and know you are doing the best for your little one. The fact that you are debating this is another example of your care. Best luck!
The first few nights I did go in to her room and tried to confort her but was hard with me because she kept asking for it so, I found easier for me and for her just have Floyd take care of her at night, and that was much better.
Floyd said hi !!
Hi Lynna, Thank you for your thoughtful response. It is hard sometimes to think I can be any kind of good Mom no matter what happens!! But I think for all Moms, and you spoke to this, is to do what is best for them and to trust their intuition. Mine is that in a few months, this will be all worked out. It is just so challenging to be so tired all the time. Waah boo wah (that is me doing a cranky baby cry
).
Thanks Marica for your response(s) too.
All were very helpful!
Sleep deprivation is crazy making, we just hit the 8 month mark of nursing and taking it a day at a time. I am hoping to make it to the year mark at least. It feels intuitive and I will be turning to you to help make sense of other milk options. They just pale in comparison to nursing. Pumping has helped me to take a small breaks from the constant call of nursing and get some needed rest. Thanks for the continual food for thought.
Thanks to you, Lorraine, for the comment.
There has been a little quiet yet strong word that keeps coming to my mind on all this….surrender.
And I have found, the more I surrender to what is happening and my choice to continue nurse because I really feel it is the best for her, the better it all is. I tend to fight how I feel, continually feel unsure, fight my fatigue (and me angry at myself for it) and this is all a big waste of energy.
So I am learning and trying to trust my intuition.