Weaning Week

It happened, but I wasn't planning on it. Will is only drinking cow's milk now. The day after his birthday, we had his 12 month well visit at the pediatrician. I was explaining to her that he still ate very little table food, still woke frequently at night and he nursed to sleep. She recommend I let him cry it out for bedtime instead of nursing to sleep, and that is something I didn't think I could do.  But I needed to do something.

So later that day, I went and bought a carton of whole milk, put it in sippy cup and held my breath. I was shocked that he chugged it down without hesitation. With that, I sort of knew that weaning was near. That night, I decided to switch up his routine and nurse him before his bath. He was so exhausted(and probably pretty ticked) after his bath, that I was able to rock him to sleep pretty quickly. A first for me! I don't think I had ever been successful in getting him to sleep at night w/o nursing.

So after I realized that it could be done, I thought that maybe it was time to just try to stop nursing and see what happened. So cold turkey, the day after he turned one. Not something I ever imagined doing, I thought it would be more gradual, but now being on day four, everything seems to be just fine. Really it seems like Will doesn't even notice.  So it's been a little of don't offer/don't refuse too because he really hasn't seemed like he wanted to.

He still wakes at night, but not nearly as much because he's more apt to go right back to sleep on his own. I haven't figured out how to get him to nap easily yet though. Thursday he slept in the stroller, Friday he fell asleep in the car, Saturday, Billy got him down with some gospel music and rocking, and Sunday I did the same.  One step at a time, I guess.  I'm still a little shocked that he isn't no longer nursing to sleep!

This is a new era.  One with more freedom.  Maybe one of these days we'll actually try a babysitter.  Ha!

Here's the big boy at his dr. visit last week: